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The huge problem with the argument for Pokemon Let's Go appealing to casuals.

Are you excited by this new detailed cinematic 3D adventure take on Kanto?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 7 50.0%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
So I couldn't help but notice that all over YouTube and dedicated Pokemon forums that a lot of people calling GameFreak genius, from a business perspective, and were getting a lot of support and thumbs up or likes for Pokemon Let's Go. They argued that GameFreak threw away the wild battles, simplified the combat system to CP, and added other Pokemon Go features... in order to appeal to casuals, that this casual experience will get them to transition from Pokemon Go to the 8th generation next year. Does anyone else see what the huge problem with this argument is?

The huge problem with this argument...
The problem with this argument that people think GameFreak is suddenly genius for implementing Pokemon Go features to appeal to casuals... is that the Pokemon series in general... is already appealing to casuals. Pokemon has ALWAYS been appealing to casuals. I assume that anyone who is reading this is a huge Pokemon fan and if you've ever had a friend that walked up to you, who may be interested in Pokemon, ask which Pokemon game should he or she start. You probably said, any Pokemon game will do. There all easy and fun to get into. Keywords, EASY and FUN and GameFreak has smartly planned this with each and every generation.

Each and every Generation was built for casuals
Generation 2 was supposed to be the last generation. GameFreak went all out with Gen 2, not expecting how insanely popular Pokemon is. To give you an idea how popular Pokemon is... it is a media franchise larger than Star Wars. When they realized this, they started getting to work on Gen 3. They marketed Generation 3 as a brand new generation set in an entirely new setting with diverse locales, brand new graphics, and tons of new Pokemon to appeal to casuals. When the Pokemon decline hit around Pokemon Emerald, they appealed to casuals by bringing up Generation 4 and it worked! When Generation 5 hit, they decided to try to appeal to casuals by looking to Generation 1 as an influence, have every Pokemon you encounter be a new Pokemon surprise waiting for you! It worked! When Generation 6 happened, they tried to appeal to everyone with 3D graphics around the theme of beauty and they marketed heavily by bring huge changes to the anime to make Pokemon feel awesome again! It worked! When the Pokemon Go craze hit, they took advantage of this by introducing Generation 7, hitting 16.10 million sales around the same as the first Pokemon 3DS game, X and Y, was. Pokemon was ALWAYS for casuals.

Pokemon in the hands of casuals are commonly their first RPG experience
One of the reasons why Pokemon is considered to be so revolutionary is that it was a RPG built with simple controls and mechanics that any child could understand, like the rock-paper-scissors mechanics or selecting from four attacks rather than ten options from your gaming PC, for the casual audience in a time when RPGs were dominated by either hardcore Western RPGs with complex controls on gaming PCs or JRPGs with incredibly long and hard difficulty that some people just couldn't get into. This is why Pokemon is so revolutionary and part of the reason why the Pokemon craze happened because it was an RPG built for casuals through simple controls and a fairly consistent difficulty and thus was many people's first experience of playing an RPG and it would continue to be up to the 7th generation. This is also why the argument that Pokemon Let's Go using Pokemon Go features and doing away other main features of the main series doesn't make any sense. If anything you should actually be concerned what it could possibly do to the Pokemon Brand.

Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee may hurt the Pokemon brand
Pokemon Let's Go is marketed as a main series title, as the FIRST Pokemon Switch title on a HD home console that is selling like hotcakes. Do not underestimate this fact. Now remember this is only one of many possibilities, but Pokemon Let's Go might actually turn off casual audiences from the Pokemon series over time. When I first saw the first Pokemon Let's Go trailer, I was amazed how stunning it looked but when I saw the Treehouse demo... I was immediately concerned. Remember the keywords, EASY and FUN. EASY, the casual part like the rock-paper-scissors mechanic being the HOOK. And FUN, the deeper mechanics, the story, lore, the competitive aspects, the completionists aspects, the MEAT of the book, movie, or in this case, the game. When I saw the Treehouse demo, I was very disappointed and I fear that GameFreak might have a Pokemon Go problem on there hands. The Pokemon encounters looked more annoying and repetitive than the random wild encounters in previous games combined with the lack of grindy wild battles in favor of possibly even more grindy Pokemon Go-style content made Pokemon Let's Go look shallow, empty, and far more repetitive than wild battles. This does not look fun, this looks empty and repetitive and I fear that such a concept might actually hurt the Pokemon brand like Final Fantasy 13 and Final Fantasy 14, the original MMO, did to the Final Fantasy Brand. Why do I say this game might actually hurt the Pokemon brand? As I said before, this is a main series title marketed as the FIRST true Pokemon experience on the Nintendo Switch. At the creation of this thread, the Pokemon Let's Go trailer hit 10 Million views and Pokemon Let's Go games are currently sold out online. That means a lot of casuals are already hooked by the marketing but it is the meat, the core of the game that will ensure a game's longevity over time. That's why the main series titles are so appealing to casuals because it has both the casual hook and the meat of the game play to keep players reeling in for about a month. Without the "meat" the quality of that product, it will fall over time. It was what happened to the Wii brand over time, people losing interest in motion controls, and later losing interest in the Wii Brand of the Wii U. It's more complicated than that actually but this is one of the major reasons why the Wii brand fell apart. It is because of this that Pokemon Let's Go quality and content will impact the sales of the 8th generation of games next year. Through what I call the shot-gun affect, these casuals who play the main series might be interested in future Pokemon generations or other Pokemon material, discovering competitive multiplayer or Pokemon Adventures, Pokemon TCG online, they may discover a new side of the Pokemon World they never though exist! That is why Pokemon is so great and this is also why I might actually be wrong about Pokemon Let's Go hurting the brand. Maybe the casual audience will get bored of this title but might be interested in what else the Pokemon series offers or maybe they will get bored of this title and they may judge the entire series based on this one title.

Conclusion/Summary
Pokemon is already a casual-friendly series, it needs both the HOOK and the MEAT of the gameplay, the EASY understanding of the controls and FUN quality gameplay to keep the Pokemon Brand healthy and alive. This is also the same reason why it is a FACT that there is no such thing as an unpopular Pokemon Generation, that there has never been any real trend or signs of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th generation being unpopular because they are all quality made titles that keep the player hooked and unfortunately... I do believe that Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee might break this trend. This is why the argument that GameFreak are genius's to use Pokemon Go Mechanics in what looks like a boring remake of Pokemon Yellow to appeal to casuals does not make any sense. Pokemon Let's Go did not gain 10 million views or sold out on Amazon because it looked appealing to casuals. It gained this achievement because when the first trailers came out, it looked fun, it looked amazing, it look like there was a ton of stuff to do before the tree house demo came out. It's why even those who hated Pokemon Go showed some interest in this title before the demo gave a better look at the game. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm still interested in this game and what it offers, not as a a Pokemon main series game using Pokemon Go Features, but as a remake of Pokemon Yellow that could influence on spinoffs, the Adventures and Anime adaptation of Pokemon, and the TCG.

What are your thoughts?
So far this is still in general, my opinion but I wanna hear what are you thoughts? Your opinion. Do you think people's argument for Pokemon Let's Go appealing to casuals still has some weight to it or does it not make any sense since Pokemon has always been a casually-appealing series. Do you think this really will appeal to casuals or it will turn away casuals in the long run? Will it get people interested in other aspects of the Pokemon series or will it hurt the Pokemon Brand in the same way Final Fantasy 13 hurt the Final Fantasy Brand?
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I don't think pre-orders selling out means anything, they could set that bar at 100 sales for all we know (100 is an exaggeration). It'd make a lot of sense to set that bar relatively low to make sure to sell out quickly, that way you make it look like it's in very high demand and give the potential customer the feeling they're missing out on something 'everyone' is getting if they don't get it too. It's just marketing, nothing more. I mean, it's over five months till release, they still have plenty of time to ramp up production, or to just sell digitally anyway (where such holdups are limited to server reliability)
 

Creyk

Well-Known Member
They will change their tune once the game flops.

Also with the "sold out" thing, it is not the casuals buying the game, but the devoted fans. Those are the people that pre-order a game, who have been wanting it, looking forward to THE next pokemon game to come already. The general public rarely orders a game 5 months before it comes out. They wait until it comes out, see if people say if the game is good, and if they say it is, then they buy it.
 
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mew 2000

Shiny Celebi
They will change their tune once the game flops.

Also with the "sold out" thing, it is not the casuals buying the game, but the devoted fans. Those are the people that pre-order a game, who have been wanting it, looking forward to THE next pokemon game to come already. The general public rarely orders a game 5 months before it comes out. They wait until it comes out, see if people say if the game is good, and if they say it is, then they buy it.
The thing, what if it doesn't flop and gets 20 million sales? Then gamefreak can call their casual mindset correct and make every pokemon game like this. I mean I'm part of the problem I paid for it already but still!
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
The thing, what if it doesn't flop and gets 20 million sales? Then gamefreak can call their casual mindset correct and make every pokemon game like this. I mean I'm part of the problem I paid for it already but still!
Actually that is EXACTLY what you should be worried about. The reason why I said it was similar to the Wii and Wii U was that the Wii was highly succesful with casuals, at first, because of the loads of quality content introduced in the first half. In the second half, people started getting bored of motion controls and Nintendo wasn't bringing out there A game like they used to. The Wii's quality was falling apart and started to feel shallow compared to it's competitors. The high level of casuals who purchased a Nintendo Wii and eventually got bored of it faster than other game consoles affects the perception of the Wii brand and is part of the reason why the Wii U failed. There's a lot of reasons why the Wii U failed but this is one of the major reasons. High sales, high expectations but a seemingly lower quality standard is also part of the reason why the Final Fantasy Brand was hurt because so many people bought Final Fantasy 13 and the original 14 but were very disappointed affecting the casual and fanbase's perception on the entire series as a whole and is why Square Enix did everything to bring honor to the FF brand. It also the same way with Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog which had huge sells but brought big disappointment affecting the brand.

To sum it up. The higher the sales are abd the more disappointing the game is that did not meet people's expectations, the more the brand will get hurt.
 
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BCVM22

Well-Known Member
I--

what? No. No. There's no reality in which "the higher the sales are, the more the brand will get hurt." There's just no version of the facts wherein that's accurate. That's... ridiculous.

The Wii U failed because developers had trouble parsing out how to best use the Gamepad, because it had the bare minimum of third-party support and because Nintendo's first party offerings weren't enough to support it on their own. It has relatively little to do with "casuals getting bored" or whatever.
 
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dss_live

Water and Fairy-type master
The thing, what if it doesn't flop and gets 20 million sales? Then gamefreak can call their casual mindset correct and make every pokemon game like this. I mean I'm part of the problem I paid for it already but still!

This is a false statement though, they've said themselves that if these games do well it would become it's own series next to the standard games, not replace them. So your fear is kinda unwarranted at this point. Best case scenerio, the game does well and in the downtime of the "hardcore" games (which is laughable that people even call it that btw) there will be the Let's go series. Worst case scenerio, games don't do well and there is no "Let's go" series.

Neither will change the standard games we've all known and all love.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
I--

what? No. No. There's no reality in which "the higher the sales are, the more the brand will get hurt." There's just no version of the facts wherein that's accurate. That's... ridiculous.

The Wii U failed because developers had trouble parsing out how to best use the Gamepad, because it had the bare minimum of third-party support and because Nintendo's first party offerings weren't enough to support it on their own. It has relatively little to do with "casuals getting bored" or whatever.
That is one of many major reasons why the Wii U failed like how the Wii hurt the Nintendo and Wii brand but that isn't actually the Wii U's biggest problem, that's a story for another time.

There is such a reality where higher sales can possibly... POSSIBLY... hurt a game's brand due the sales reflecting a higher number of people who bought the game and depending on the game's quality, it either A) boost the brand's popularity even further or B) hurt the brand and give a bad perception of the entire series as a whole or future installments. It has happened with other video game franchises. Final Fantasy is the best example because Square Enix admitted that the high install-base of both old and new FF fans who purchased and played FF13 and FF14 hurt the brand's name because of the large player base's disappointment to those installments which is actually the MAIN REASON why the FF13 sequels and FF14: A Realm Reborn were created, to restore the player bases faith in the series. They were made because their were a lot of people played those games, weren't impressed, and those games hurt the brand's name and Square Enix wanted to fix that. It is a reality, it has happened before, and it could POSSIBLY happen to Pokemon through the Let's Go series. Or not and we see GameFreak create a dedicated Let's Go series of other regions.
 
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Creyk

Well-Known Member
The thing, what if it doesn't flop and gets 20 million sales? Then gamefreak can call their casual mindset correct and make every pokemon game like this. I mean I'm part of the problem I paid for it already but still!

Yes, of course you are right.
HOWEVER.
The switch is a new platform, and pricy. Will people buy a switch just to play this game? Many people bought a 3DS just to be able to play XY because those games were IT. Are these games IT? No.
So I don't know...maybe it will do well..but I would not be surprised if it didn't.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
Final Fantasy is the best example because—

Well, if it happened in a completely separate franchise that shares nothing with Pokémon besides a genre (and loosely, at that), we should be extra vigilant for it here.

Will people buy a switch just to play this game?

Some will. A majority? No. Even a plurality? Probably not. But some will.

Are these games IT? No.

Who’s to say they aren’t, though?

So I don't know...maybe it will do well..but I would not be surprised if it didn't.

The thing about Pokémon is that the franchise’s name recognition still goes a very long way. As the first Pokémon titles (and core-adjacent titles, no less) for a platform still riding very strong momentum, these games will almost certainly sell “well.” Sales numbers of a few million titles are probably the floor for these games, at minimum. And that’s not nothing - there are developers who would give up their first-born children to sell “only” a few million copies.

The question, of course, is whether these games will do beyond “well.” Even the lowest selling core titles have topped out in the high single digit millions to low double digit millions. Will LGP/E get there or beyond? I tend to think they will, but that obviously is nothing more than a prediction on my part. And let’s say they do max out at the low end of that forecast - do Nintendo and Game Freak still treat that as a success, given the new and unique nature of these games and their casual demographic? So again, I do not think the question is “will these games sell well?” as much as it is “how well will these games sell?”
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I don't think you can so easily translate the sales for main series games on handhelds to the Switch games. The Switch games are significantly more expensive compared to for instance Sun and Moon. I paid like €42 for Sun, but Let's Go is €60. That's over 40% more expensive. It's part of why some people also demand more from Switch games compared to regular titles, because they also pay more money for it. And as it stands, they do add new things like following pokémon but also take away other things like wild pokémon battles, the Battle Spot, and every single non-Kanto pokémon. Call the outrage puzzling all you want, but as it stands it doesn't look like a bargain.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
I--

what? No. No. There's no reality in which "the higher the sales are, the more the brand will get hurt." There's just no version of the facts wherein that's accurate. That's... ridiculous.

I think their concern is that if LGPR is wildly popular then Gamefreak might, possibly, make all future Pokemon games more Let's Go like, which would be bad for people who don't like it.


Final Fantasy is the best example because Square Enix admitted that the high install-base of both old and new FF fans who purchased and played FF13 and FF14 hurt the brand's name because of the large player base's disappointment to those installments which is actually the MAIN REASON why the FF13 sequels and FF14: A Realm Reborn were created, to restore the player bases faith in the series. They were made because their were a lot of people played those games, weren't impressed, and those games hurt the brand's name and Square Enix wanted to fix that.

Eh I wouldn't take Final Fantasy as a good example for anything anymore except how immensely Square-Enix sucks at managing their...everything... They allowed one guy to muck about with Versus XIII/FFXV for almost a mother freaking decade (and gave him so much leeway that at one point he wanted to turn it into a musical because he like Les Miserables) before handing it over to somebody else who then had to start over from scratch because literally nothing was done.
And they left FF XIII in the hands of someone who literally was in love with Lightning and thus pushed her as much as possible, despite widespread apathy and disinterest in her and her game from the fanbase.
Excluding the online titles, who shouldn't be part of the main series anyway, but rather spinnoffs (since they're online versions of a single-player series) they have only released 4 installments in the last 19 years. 4. In 19 years. As opposed to the 7 games that were released from 1991 to 2001.
Gamefreak has their stuff waaaaay more together than Square-Enix with Final Fantasy.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
I do not agree with your thesis at all, for the simple fact Pokémon has always had a niche audience. That audience just so happens to be 16 million people worldwide, which is massive in terms of sales, but small compared to the overall gaming population.

Pokémon sold like crazy back in 1998 because it appealed greatly to casuals. When Gen 3 was released, and the Pokémon craze died down, all that remained were the hardcore fans. They are the ones who have remained ever since. Why do you think the player age grew every year? Because we grew every year. Even with the newcomers every generation, those newcomers become long term fans. Pokémon very seldom appeals to casuals, because it is a niche franchise. So yes, Pokémon Let's GO is indeed being intricately marketed towards casuals, and it will not affect the series in any negative form, because the hardcore fanbase will still be there. Let's GO is Game Freak biding time until they can complete the 2019 title. They know not all of that 16 million will be into the game, which is why they are focusing on casuals, who are far larger in population size, as a way to reel in revenue, Switch sales, and potential new fans.

I predict Let's GO is going to sell about 20 million copies worldwide, roughly half of which will be casuals. About a quarter of the sales will include new Switch sales. The 2019 title will return to the series' standard of 16 million sales, perhaps making it up to 17 million, due to the success of Let's GO. Many of these sales will also include new Switch sales.

Nothing damaging is going to happen to Pokémon. Casuals will flock, enjoy the game, then run off to the next game, as casuals do. So long as that 16 million niche audience remains, Pokémon will always be in good standing.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
I think their concern is that if LGPR is wildly popular then Gamefreak might, possibly, make all future Pokemon games more Let's Go like, which would be bad for people who don't like it.

All concerns of any negative lasting effect(s) LGP/E might have on the franchise going forward sort of fall flat in the face of what they've already said about next year's titles. Not that you are making any such case, but in general.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Well, if it happened in a completely separate franchise that shares nothing with Pokémon besides a genre (and loosely, at that), we should be extra vigilant for it here.



Some will. A majority? No. Even a plurality? Probably not. But some will.



Who’s to say they aren’t, though?



The thing about Pokémon is that the franchise’s name recognition still goes a very long way. As the first Pokémon titles (and core-adjacent titles, no less) for a platform still riding very strong momentum, these games will almost certainly sell “well.” Sales numbers of a few million titles are probably the floor for these games, at minimum. And that’s not nothing - there are developers who would give up their first-born children to sell “only” a few million copies.

The question, of course, is whether these games will do beyond “well.” Even the lowest selling core titles have topped out in the high single digit millions to low double digit millions. Will LGP/E get there or beyond? I tend to think they will, but that obviously is nothing more than a prediction on my part. And let’s say they do max out at the low end of that forecast - do Nintendo and Game Freak still treat that as a success, given the new and unique nature of these games and their casual demographic? So again, I do not think the question is “will these games sell well?” as much as it is “how well will these games sell?”
Any popular series of games brand can be hit hard if it sells a lot but it does not meet the expectations of most of the consumer. It's not just RPGs, in fact it's actually a common sight in western companies these days. Look at Microsoft for example. There are more Microsoft fans turning to Sony and Nintendo because Microsoft isn't doing enough to meet the millions of customers expecations who bought an Xbox. Maybe you say it's because it's a console. Well then look at Sega. Sega looks like they st
I do not agree with your thesis at all, for the simple fact Pokémon has always had a niche audience. That audience just so happens to be 16 million people worldwide, which is massive in terms of sales, but small compared to the overall gaming population.

Pokémon sold like crazy back in 1998 because it appealed greatly to casuals. When Gen 3 was released, and the Pokémon craze died down, all that remained were the hardcore fans. They are the ones who have remained ever since. Why do you think the player age grew every year? Because we grew every year. Even with the newcomers every generation, those newcomers become long term fans. Pokémon very seldom appeals to casuals, because it is a niche franchise. So yes, Pokémon Let's GO is indeed being intricately marketed towards casuals, and it will not affect the series in any negative form, because the hardcore fanbase will still be there. Let's GO is Game Freak biding time until they can complete the 2019 title. They know not all of that 16 million will be into the game, which is why they are focusing on casuals, who are far larger in population size, as a way to reel in revenue, Switch sales, and potential new fans.

I predict Let's GO is going to sell about 20 million copies worldwide, roughly half of which will be casuals. About a quarter of the sales will include new Switch sales. The 2019 title will return to the series' standard of 16 million sales, perhaps making it up to 17 million, due to the success of Let's GO. Many of these sales will also include new Switch sales.

Nothing damaging is going to happen to Pokémon. Casuals will flock, enjoy the game, then run off to the next game, as casuals do. So long as that 16 million niche audience remains, Pokémon will always be in good standing.

I feel like your, and I'm probably wrong, underestimating just how strong the Pokemon Brand is? The Pokemon franchise is bigger than Sun and Moon's 16 million sales and that's where the casual audience comes in. When Pokemon Emerald was released, the Pokemon craze didn't really died down at all. It was still going strong but it was in decline. Decline doesn't necessarily mean that a franchise isn't popular anymore, it just means that it wasn't as popular as it used to be back than and Pokemon was still very popular around Emerald just not through the anime or TCG, but now it was mostly reliant on it's video games and people were tired of the 5th 3rd gen Pokemon game making it's release, they wanted something new and that's why Diamond and Pearl was released and suddenly BOOM! Pokemon Craze was no longer in decline again, for at the time anyway. That's what I mean as decline.

Any franchise that heavily depends on it's hardcore audience over a casual audience is actually very unhealthy as we've seen in the case of the Wii U unable to gather the casual audience it needs and relying too much on it's hardcore audience to make those hardware and software sales. Pokemon isn't the Wii U, meaning it isn't too reliant on us, the hardcore audience who will try to study GameFreak's release patterns or try to own every Pokemon game or try to understand the lore or be a huge fan of the TCG. The Pokemon fanbase is still pretty huge, I may even argue that it could even be compared to Star Wars or Star Trek's fanbase, getting a little nerdy there, but the thing is Nintendo's audience as a whole is also quite huge, maybe even bigger then those examples I've mentioned but look at the Wii U. There is so much brand loyalty can do in such a time. I don't think GameFreak will ever make any mistake like what Nintendo did but the matter of the fact is GameFreak's target audience will always be the casual audience over the hardcore audience. You can't always rely on the hardcore audience as your Number 1 consumer. Satisfying the hardcore audience is actually a huge help to the brand but satisfying the casual audience is more important and unfortunately, I don't think Pokemon Let's Go does enough to appeal both the bigger casual and smaller hardcore audience.

Pokemon's Goal is really no different from any other RPG's goal, to attract the casual audience and turn them into a hardcore fan of the series in the long run to ensure the brand's longevity as a whole. GameFreak has always succeeded in this goal, creating new long-term supporters of the Pokemon franchise but I feel like Let's Go won't be able to accomplish that and honestly there are worrying trends that they might not have a clue what there doing in the future. Yeah. I get it. The hardcore and casual market will just move onto the core series title in 2019 but with the Let's Go Titles and GameFreak having plans to introduce sequels, the fact that Let's Go lack's the challenge or certain mechanics that appeal to casuals or that longevity that appeals to hardcore fans or casuals new to the series that might want to be hardcore fans combined with the fact that we could have a surplus of Pokemon games could possibly hurt the brand name. Especially with the recent trends of the 6th gen post-game and Let's Go's poor attempt to appeal to casuals, I'm starting to sense a possible trend that I hope does not follow on in the 9th gen.

IDK. I could be completely wrong and Let's Go just becomes another fad that has no impact on the series brand afterall or who knows. Maybe even a fun installment as it is still too early to judge. However, with all this being said. There is good reason to worry about the Pokemon's brand and the possible future GameFreak might be taking to. Also I don't think price tags affect too much on the sales power of the Pokemon brand considering the trend of previous Nintendo series crossing into console and console. It will affect sales but not too much.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
I feel like your, and I'm probably wrong, underestimating just how strong the Pokemon Brand is? The Pokemon franchise is bigger than Sun and Moon's 16 million sales and that's where the casual audience comes in.

I stopped reading here, because this is all wrong.

Pokémon has averaged 16 million in main series sales since Gen 3. The overall sales for an entire generation has actually declined with each generation, but that 16 million in sales for the main series titles has not changed. That is our niche. Those are the hardcore fans who will be around for years to come, just as they have for the last twenty.

I'm not saying the brand is bad. I'm not saying the franchise isn't popular. I'm actually saying the exact opposite. The Pokémon franchise has endured for 20+ years because of its niche audience. It remains even now second only to Mario as the biggest selling video game franchise ever. Not even GTAV's 100 million copies sold was enough to surpass Pokémon's ongoing track record. It is the niche that made this possible.

Thus, my point is there is no need to worry about casuals in even the slightest sense. The majority of the franchise's sales rest in the main series, where the niche audience rests more than anywhere. There is nothing to worry about.

EDIT: Don't worry. I read the rest of your reply afterwards, but it didn't sway my own.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
I stopped reading here, because this is all wrong.

Pokémon has averaged 16 million in main series sales since Gen 3. The overall sales for an entire generation has actually declined with each generation, but that 16 million in sales for the main series titles has not changed. That is our niche. Those are the hardcore fans who will be around for years to come, just as they have for the last twenty.

I'm not saying the brand is bad. I'm not saying the franchise isn't popular. I'm actually saying the exact opposite. The Pokémon franchise has endured for 20+ years because of its niche audience. It remains even now second only to Mario as the biggest selling video game franchise ever. Not even GTAV's 100 million copies sold was enough to surpass Pokémon's ongoing track record. It is the niche that made this possible.

Thus, my point is there is no need to worry about casuals in even the slightest sense. The majority of the franchise's sales rest in the main series, where the niche audience rests more than anywhere. There is nothing to worry about.

EDIT: Don't worry. I read the rest of your reply afterwards, but it didn't sway my own.
I think you somewhat misread my reply. So let me try to get this straight... you think... the niche market is only hardcore Pokemon fans and doesn't include any of the casual fans? Am I correct? I think your confusing niche market with the hardcore market. While hardcore fans play a key role in the niche market, it's also about attracting casuals who are interested in that one specific market, like sports or cooking or in this case Pokemon in general, and nurture them into hardcore fans, which by GameFreak's recent trends in Gen 6 and Let's Go are kind of worrying. I won't really get a full idea until Gen 9 though. Not enough to go on and stuff. Almost every popular video game has a niche market out there and is kept alive by it, not necessarily a hardcore market. Just look how toxic Overwatch is lol.

Never said that you said the brand is bad. I was saying that Pokemon Let's Go could damage the brand among casuals especially and possibly hardcore fans in the future.

I'm trying to understand this, while sales do play a major part in a series brand... did you think I was more concerned about the sales of a game or the brand name taking a hit? I feel like you are confusing the two even though they are connected. I don't think I ever said the sales of the Pokemon franchise taking a hit after Let's Go and if it were too, it would have to be a number of games more with a quality similar to Let's Go or possibly even 6th gen over time. I was talking about how the brand name would take a hit affecting the series popularity as a whole, games, anime, TCG stuff like that. In fact, the only time I recall mentioning sales is how the high healthy number of sales who keep Pokemon alive and popular could also impact the perception of the series if GameFreak could never meet most of there fans, casual or hardcore, expectations.

Anything you feel should be corrected or confusions that need to be addressed?
 
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PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
Anything you feel should be corrected or confusions that need to be addressed?

Yes, the fact that you were discussing niche market instead of niche audience, which I distinctively worded.

A niche audience refers less to niche marketing, and more to the word niche itself: 'of or relating to something precise or exclusive to the interests of a small section of a population.' By saying niche audience, I am literally saying "an audience that is niche in nature." A niche market, as we both know, is aimed at anyone within that market's entire demographic. A niche audience is smaller than that demographic.

The Pokémon fanbase is niche because it is incredibly close nit and unique in its interests for gaming quality and satisfaction, due to Pokémon itself being very unique in its quality of gameplay mechanics. Many players within the audience may not play much else beyond Pokémon, for that very reason.

With that being said, I'll have to note that Let's GO is in no way seeking sales within niche market, as Masuda himself stated he wanted to attract all kinds of people, rather than just those interested in RPGs. This is why the game is as casual as it is; much like Pokémon GO, it is for those who don't necessarily fit Nintendo's niche market. Will it work? Probably not. I'm certain the game will only attract those within the niche market, but there are enough people within the market besides Pokémon's niche audience to garner massive sales.
 

Skiks

MUCH RESPECT
Lol. This is not the first spin off and it certainly won't be the last. If it really is that bad people won't buy it and it will go away. Problem solved.
If they do sell well they might make more but you still don't have to worry since they will still make core games.
 
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