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5th Gen B/W attracting an older audience?

Moltres Rider

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    • from what I noticed, Pokemon Black & White seems to attract more of an older teen / young adult audience (such as myself) than kids... has anybody else noticed this? anybody know why?
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    Kenshin5

    Wanderer
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    • It has? Just wondering what you are basing this off of. The only thing I could think that would attract older fans is because it is somewhat of a starting over since Unova is isolated from other regions and you cannot encounter previous generations pokemon until after the final battle with N, so there is somewhat of a freshness to the series. I don't see how this attracts more older age groups then children since the game is innately geared toward children.
     

    Oryx

    CoquettishCat
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    • Age 31
    • Seen Jan 30, 2015
    I think that every game has attracted an older audience, honestly. I mean, think about it. I doubt Red/Blue had many older fans considering there was no following by then; most people who played it were little kids. But as they grew up, more and more games came out and they kept playing, partly for fun and partly for nostalgia. Now people that played Red/Blue are 17-20 and some even older, and they keep playing. I firmly believe that in the future there will be 40 year olds playing Generation X or whatever. xD;
     

    Wya77

    Average Trainer
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    • Seen Nov 12, 2011
    If I were to guess, I'd say it's because of how much more complicated and advanced Pokemon is. An example is the C-Gear; how many 8-year-old kids will understand that? Not many. And since many features like this are becoming implemented more and more to the games, younger kids are losing interest because they don't understand it. That's what I think.
     

    Kenshin5

    Wanderer
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    • And yes I can see how people think the fans age is rising since the fans started out as kids and progressed as adults too this point and now they are still fans of the game. I don't think new added features is going to put a damper on kids buying the game. If they don't understand it they just won't take part in that portion of the game, that's not too say they will lose interest in the main story and all the new pokemon. I'm not interested in new additions like Musicals but that doesn't mean I have second thoughts on buying the games.
     

    JinRazielGames

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    • Me = 12 Yrs. Old like the Pokemon for DS.
    What i wanna try in B/W it because of the C-Gear.
    I also like a Ferriswheel Shipping xD.
    My sis couldn't even understand C-Gear or kids need more advanced knowledge?
     

    shengar

    ♥ Mikan Enthusiast ♥
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    • Seen Jun 25, 2013
    Wya77 said:
    If I were to guess, I'd say it's because of how much more complicated and advanced Pokemon is. An example is the C-Gear; how many 8-year-old kids will understand that? Not many. And since many features like this are becoming implemented more and more to the games, younger kids are losing interest because they don't understand it. That's what I think.
    Click to expand...

    Well, that left Nintendo/Pokemon Company this option on what should they do to their next games. Whether they are implement more complex feature to the game, losing 8-years old new player that might lose their interest as they are grown up or try to appeal more to older fans and hook 12 years old player that might follow the series much longer.
     

    ~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

    Buffalo State College
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    • I dont see how the game attracted more of an older audience, I think it just attracted a little bit more people due to the graphics being so much better than the previous handheld Pokemon games.


    :t354:TG
     

    Smooky

    You blinked, didn't you?
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    • I wanted to chime in, because I made an interesting discovery. Of course, it only concerns two kids I know, but I was surprised myself.

    I was at a family friend's house, and they have twin boys, 10 years old. They love Pokemon, so they loved it when I showed them all my Pokemon on the DS games. I even let them play Pokemon White for a bit, and they loved it. Then, I decided to bring over a Gameboy Advance and a copy of Pokemon Sapphire, to see what they thought of an older game. I was kind of nervous that they'd think it was dumb, considering they had just got done playing some of Pokemon White, but they really loved it.
    So, then I thought, "what the heck", and after they beat the Elite Four, I brought them a copy of Pokemon Yellow that I used to love. And guess what? It was their favorite! They liked it a lot more than Sapphire and White. They thought the sprites looked cool, too. ^_^

    Anyway, I think that kids prefer simpler games, and that since Yellow was the simplest, they were able to get the hang of it quicker. To be honest, even I would've been put off by Pokemon if it had been introduced to me with all the types and complicated features the games have now. I know my 5-year-old self would NOT understand Pokemon abilities, nor would I want to memorize all the types, items, attacks, and creatures you can choose from. It's pretty overwhelming.
     
    Cid

    Cid

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    • Smooky said:
    I wanted to chime in, because I made an interesting discovery. Of course, it only concerns two kids I know, but I was surprised myself.

    I was at a family friend's house, and they have twin boys, 10 years old. They love Pokemon, so they loved it when I showed them all my Pokemon on the DS games. I even let them play Pokemon White for a bit, and they loved it. Then, I decided to bring over a Gameboy Advance and a copy of Pokemon Sapphire, to see what they thought of an older game. I was kind of nervous that they'd think it was dumb, considering they had just got done playing some of Pokemon White, but they really loved it.
    So, then I thought, "what the heck", and after they beat the Elite Four, I brought them a copy of Pokemon Yellow that I used to love. And guess what? It was their favorite! They liked it a lot more than Sapphire and White. They thought the sprites looked cool, too. ^_^

    Anyway, I think that kids prefer simpler games, and that since Yellow was the simplest, they were able to get the hang of it quicker. To be honest, even I would've been put off by Pokemon if it had been introduced to me with all the types and complicated features the games have now. I know my 5-year-old self would NOT understand Pokemon abilities, nor would I want to memorize all the types, items, attacks, and creatures you can choose from. It's pretty overwhelming.
    Click to expand...

    I've always thought that all kids loved graphics more than anything.
    I guess this means that even kids can love the simplicity of old games.

    In my opinion, I think B/W was catered to a new audience, old or not. It feels quite different and unique from the previous games in the main series, and I think that the old fans needed to adjust to the new Pokemon more than the new fans needed to learn the ropes. I don't think that it was a bad move for them to do that at all, because I loved White. And judging from how most kids nowadays would rather play flashy games, I think the new audience sort of got dominated with the old people who either came back and liked Pokemon again or are completely new and found it as a nice game to play. Nevertheless, I feel that the fifth generation has a fair share of younger fans, too.

    I'm not sure if the older looking main protagonists caused it, but it's quite possible.
     

    Giosherd

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    • These games came out when I was in second grade, and I have enjoyed playing them ever since. I think that the audience for Pokemon games will continually seem to get older because of similar experiences amongst players.
     
    Perriechu

    Perriechu

    i make this look easy tik-tik boom like gasoline-y
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    • I've noticed more older players, well (18+ for sure) I was in my local game shop scouting for merchandise. <: And about 6 college guys came in and all bought Black/White. I must say the shop assistant gave them bad looks though.

    I don't know why but Black and White seem a lot different to the past generation games and they seem a bit more "grown-up" with the more aging dialogue and plot. Whether Gamefreak intended for it to be aimed at older people or not it's worked.
     

    Giosherd

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    • Well it could be that Gamefreak and Nintendo intended to make B/W directed toward adult audiences, what with all the spin-off games that seem more directed toward child audiences.
     
    Perriechu

    Perriechu

    i make this look easy tik-tik boom like gasoline-y
    4,079
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    • Giosherd said:
    Well it could be that Gamefreak and Nintendo intended to make B/W directed toward adult audiences, what with all the spin-off games that seem more directed toward child audiences.
    Click to expand...

    Actually If you look at some of the Spin-Offs like XD: GoD and the Ranger games, they're kinda aimed at older audiences, well not 18+ Audience but like 16, around that area.

    I also think that GF didn't intentionally aim this at an older age group because it would be a shot in the dark to do it, because it could of either failed or succeeded, so they probably played it safe and went with what they normally do, but they just made it slightly more aimed at the older age group.

    I'm ranting now, lol. :x
     

    Giosherd

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    • dragonomega said:


    Actually If you look at some of the Spin-Offs like XD: GoD and the Ranger games, they're kinda aimed at older audiences, well not 18+ Audience but like 16, around that area.
    Click to expand...

    I'm biased though, I've never tried playing any of the Ranger games (although I have played XD and loved it) because they just looked too "little kiddish."
    I'm 19, but if what you're saying is true, I'm sure I could still get some enjoyment out of the games if I gave them a try.
     

    Ho-Oh

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    Giosherd said:
    I'm biased though, I've never tried playing any of the Ranger games (although I have played XD and loved it) because they just looked too "little kiddish."
    I'm 19, but if what you're saying is true, I'm sure I could still get some enjoyment out of the games if I gave them a try.
    Click to expand...

    Maybe you could make a discussion in the Spinoffs section in regards to whether the Spinoffs are more childish than the actual main games, since that doesn't really fit here...

    Anyway yeah they seem to attract an older audience, and bring a lot of older players back into Pokemon after years, but in-game they're treating everyone like little kids sorta, well, it seems to be more-so than other games with free items everywhere, lots of money early on, lots of explanation, so idk. That might be just to appeal to the players that might not have played in a while and forgot everything (totally unlikely though).
     

    Ho-Oh

    used Sacred Fire!
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    Kay to add more to what I said in the last post, I was playing through yesterday and I noticed they're pretty much using teen speak, as opposed to other games which didn't really, for example, "mhm" and "'kay", while in the passing by surveys, the only choice of subjects to take were maths, english, science and society and environment. All of them are subjects you can take in primary school but aren't really compulsary in high school, well, not compulsary later on in high school, so I think it's that they're more trying to please two different audiences at once and depending on what aspect they're concentrating on, it seems they're sorta leaving out a group, or at least I felt somewhat awkward with the surveys. :x

    Oh and there's also the fact that social studies / society and environment in most high schools and such becomes "history" or "geography" which is further proof that they do have the primary school audience in mind, or at least junior, or whatever America calls it.
     

    Giosherd

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    • Forever said:
    Kay to add more to what I said in the last post, I was playing through yesterday and I noticed they're pretty much using teen speak, as opposed to other games which didn't really, for example, "mhm" and "'kay", while in the passing by surveys, the only choice of subjects to take were maths, english, science and society and environment. All of them are subjects you can take in primary school but aren't really compulsary in high school, well, not compulsary later on in high school, so I think it's that they're more trying to please two different audiences at once and depending on what aspect they're concentrating on, it seems they're sorta leaving out a group, or at least I felt somewhat awkward with the surveys. :x

    Oh and there's also the fact that social studies / society and environment in most high schools and such becomes "history" or "geography" which is further proof that they do have the primary school audience in mind, or at least junior, or whatever America calls it.
    Click to expand...

    Makes sense, especially considering that the younger generations are really the future of these games.
     

    Nephilim

    Resounding Sounds.
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    In my own opinion, it seems to have attracted generally about the same audience as those that was attracted to the HG/SS serious. What might've given the implication that an older audience was involved was the "darker" storyline that B/W had that trumped over it's predecessors(unfortunately they still had pathetic pokemon, oh how I wished they would change this).

    Other than that, I wouldn't see too huge of a difference between the audiences between the HG/SS and the B/W games. But that's just me.
     
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