Pokemon popularity?

[SamuJake]

I've always wondered if Pokemon's popularity has gone down, or up in the past few years. I mean, it will never be as popular as it was in the first 2 years it was released. But what about in the past 5 years? are their any statistics on it's popularity, sales, etc? What do you think?

I remember I use to check PokeCommunity as a guest a few years back and it seemed to be full of activity, it still is now, but not as much? What do you think?

In my opinion I think it might have died down a bit. But I thought Pokemon Black and White could have changed that with all the new features and what not.

 

[Kenshin5]

It was extremely popular the for 2 years... always struck me as being quite popular for at least 3-5 years.

I remember when Diamond and Pearl released that forums where quite busy and busy for awhile at that. Like I remember going to trading boards and topics would go by on Page 1 in the matter of minutes, whereas now it would take several hours.

I think in terms of sale BW is the highest and most quickest selling games. So it may just be a lot of older fans just got out of pokemon and people are in a different phase in life and gaming. As well as the other portions of the franchise that don't appeal to them anymore either.

 

[Guest123_x1]

hard to say, really

Here's my take on this:
I remember Pokémon being the big craze of the era from about 1998-2001, with lots of advertising, talk, plugs, and rave reviews-starting with the release of Red and Blue, the start of the anime's US English dub run in syndication, the TCG, and then the first Movie, which everybody was talking about at the time of its dub release in late 1999 (just before Toy Story 2 came out), and then the Generation II games. In fact things got so wild, I read somewhere that most children would've recognized Pikachu before Mickey Mouse!

Then, all of a sudden, after 9-11, the craze began to die down, and by about 2005, I rarely even heard very much about it anymore (most notably, the fourth and fifth movies getting only a limited theatrical release in the US, through Miramax, as opposed to the wide releases of the first three through Warner Bros.)

Nowadays I see a bit of an uptick when the first games of each new generation are released, but it's not quite enough to get the franchise back to the craze it was originally.

 

[Turn-it]

yeah that's a pretty good question. With people I know, it's growing fast. I know a lot of people who talk about it constantly and they have a good experience with playing. As far as the world.....I don't know...but it's such a huge franchise. Anime, main games, spin off games, card games, etc. So it should be okay.

 

[TheFattestSnorlax]

Let's see. I think that popularity over Pokemon probably has stayed the same over the past 10 years.

 

[Jessie]

I think it's up and down. I go through phases, I know. I'll play for a while and then give it a rest for a while.

I don't really think it'd died down too much in terms of how many people are playing it but it certainly does not have the buzz it did when it first came out.

 

[Raven Valt]

I think it's bigger in other countries than in places like the U.K, I know Japan and U.S.A get there episodes aired faster than the U.K does, I've been to a pokemon store in japan, Bought the Classic, Blue/Red/Yellow, And over there it's a massive market, You see all ages both genders.mascots, ect.. Even in the U.S it's pretty big.. but for more 13 and under, I know alot of people in the U.K who play it, i used to go to a fan club, had 13 members, Youngest was 7, older was 30.

For me the popularity is all on the games.. Not the T.v show.

 

[Yoshikko]

Here's my take on this:
I remember Pokémon being the big craze of the era from about 1998-2001, with lots of advertising, talk, plugs, and rave reviews-starting with the release of Red and Blue, the start of the anime's US English dub run in syndication, the TCG, and then the first Movie, which everybody was talking about at the time of its dub release in late 1999 (just before Toy Story 2 came out), and then the Generation II games. In fact things got so wild, I read somewhere that most children would've recognized Pikachu before Mickey Mouse!

Then, all of a sudden, after 9-11, the craze began to die down, and by about 2005, I rarely even heard very much about it anymore (most notably, the fourth and fifth movies getting only a limited theatrical release in the US, through Miramax, as opposed to the wide releases of the first three through Warner Bros.)

Nowadays I see a bit of an uptick when the first games of each new generation are released, but it's not quite enough to get the franchise back to the craze it was originally.

Yeah I agree with this, I had the same personally too, where I just layed off Pokémon for a while around that time, just wasn't really interested anymore.

 

[Oryx]

What's strange is that despite the craze being back in the first two gens, Black and White are still the highest sellers, shattered records, etc. I'm wondering if they're actually more popular now as games, they're just not in "fad" stage so you don't get people constantly talking about them like when we were kids.

 

[mastsethi]

Well, that's quite natural. You can compare that with the popularity graph of TV shows like How I met your mother. Initially Pokemon took the world and the kids by surprise but following seasons had little or nothing new to offer so the popularity dip is understandable.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

As a cultural zeitgeist-y touchstone, Pokemon has never been more popular than around the time of the release of Gold and Silver. Everything seemed to be in place: the games were the talk of the gaming world, the anime was as completely mainstream as any Western cartoon in the popular culture; the movies were playing in cinemas as opposed to direct-to-DVD releases, the TCG was popular in schools. As Otter Mii-kun mentioned above, that time just around the turn of the millennium was when Pokemon seemed to be at the height.

While the games might be selling more now, I have the distinct impression that the franchise as a whole has become a lot more fragmented in terms of its popularity, especially on a worldwide basis. In Japan, I imagine Pokemon would be just as popular as it was in 1997, as the 'exotic' nature of the franchise that catapulted it to attention in the 90s in the West won't seem as exotic, so there's less of a novelty factor to wear off. In the 'West', however, the original target market for the franchise has grown up, and newer generations don't have as much of an idea of just HOW! FRIGGIN'! BIG! Pokemon was in the late 90s.

I dunno, I'm starting to ramble. I essentially agree with Otter Mii-kun completely. :D

 

[Yoshikko]

What's strange is that despite the craze being back in the first two gens, Black and White are still the highest sellers, shattered records, etc. I'm wondering if they're actually more popular now as games, they're just not in "fad" stage so you don't get people constantly talking about them like when we were kids.

Well, I think that's also because we are the generation who were in the middle of that fad during GSC so we (mostly) stayed fans and are all getting the newer games now, mainly because we grew up with the craze. For the younger generation now, the games aren't nearly as crazed as they were when we were younger.

 

[Quixote]

Something I also noticed was that back in 2006 to about 2008, everyone and their mom had a Pokemon fansite. Now while they still pop up, there are a lot less than what there used to be.

 

[Captain Fabio]

The popularity has been up and down; as people said above, it has been most popular around Gold/Silver. However, the popularity will rise again when B/W2 comes out the forum will boom again.​

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[CliveKoopa]

I've stuck with Pokemon since the very beginning and although I have been on a few hiatuses from it, I always go back to the franchise and indeed these forums after having breaks from time to time so I've never truly broke away from it.

 

[Oryx]

Well, I think that's also because we are the generation who were in the middle of that fad during GSC so we (mostly) stayed fans and are all getting the newer games now, mainly because we grew up with the craze. For the younger generation now, the games aren't nearly as crazed as they were when we were younger.

So are you saying like the older people that buy Pokemon games don't make it into a fad like they would have when they were younger but still buy them? I can see that making sense. There's also the idea that a fad builds on itself and snowballs; it needs that little push to start.

 

[appletechGodjuice]

I think the decline of popularity has something to do with the evolution of video games in general.

I'm someone who plays games for their storylines.
I didn't play Professor Layton to test my intelligence or whatever, I didn't play to see if I could solve all the puzzles - I played it because the storyline intrigued me.
When Gen I first came out, I was about 4 (actually 2 if you count the JP release), so I don't exactly remember much. But from what I've heard, it was something new, different, exciting.

Flash forward to now. Games and game consoles have evolved so much that the PS3 is, in and of itself, a computer.

Pokemon's still the same. Granted, the individual games are different - in RBY you're after Team Rocket, RSE you're after Magma/Aqua, and I don't know what's after that because I've never played them. I tried to pick up Diamond several times, and I've always set it down after the first gym.
The main idea of the game is always basically the same - you begin as a kid with a starter, and you keep catching and beating trainers until you've hit the top.

But take more modern games, like Square Enix's Final Fantasy. Each of those games, while following some sort of basis, are drastically different in storyline. I know FF started, what, back in the 80s, but FF1 is still very very different from FF13.

I think people are just a little bored. I'm not saying I'm totally bored myself, I'll still play through any Pokemon game. But to this day some of my favourite games are the Ranger series. They're something new, different, exciting.

Yeah, BW may have been the highest-selling, but it's in a generation where Pokemon doesn't have that excitement to it. When you boil it down, it's the same old shtick.

Plus, there's also the fact that in most high schools, which is where a lot of the Pokemon generation is right now, Pokemon is seen as childish and nerdy.

 

[Porynoir]

It's similar to Mario. Gamestop is overloaded with people at one minute, the next it's deserted.
Like many others said, I doubt pokemon will explode anytime soon. B/W was close, but not like the first 2 years.