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curiousnathan January 8th, 2013 3:47 PM

Target Market
 
Do you think Pokemon X and Y will appeal to the older generations of players who've grown with the franchise ever since RBY? Or do you think these games will continue to appeal to the newer, younger generation of players (like Pokemon BW/BW2 did).

Mama-Mamo January 8th, 2013 3:51 PM

I feel like the complexities of the features of the newer games tries to appeal to somewhat of an older audience.

But then again, young kids have access to all sorts of technology now a days...

Being a part of online communities such as PC shows that a older audience still has a love for Pokemon. The online compatibility of the games could be inspired by fan communities such as these.

shengar January 8th, 2013 3:56 PM

With that cutesy Pokemon style? I think it revert back from slightly older audience they've targeted for BW to younger audience again. Well I can't really know unless they show us more information about this new generation. Though I'm always and never stopped hoping for Pokemon that mainly targeted to older audience. Pokemon suffers too much for being "everyone" games without any spin-offs.

Kura January 8th, 2013 3:58 PM

I think it'll appeal to everyone. Especially the oldies who always wanted a 3D pokemon game.. now their wishes have been granted so of course they'd jump at the chance to see how it plays! And it's pokemon.. so of course the younger audience will be grabbed too!

Miss Doronjo January 8th, 2013 3:59 PM

Yeah I agree with all the comments here; while I think it'll appeal to kids (since the game will be rated E for everyone I bet) maybe it'll have a darker and more mature tone to it; like in BW. It was pretty successful that way~

Ho-Oh January 8th, 2013 5:30 PM

B/W appealed to the older generation too, I mean they had teenagers as opposed to kids, and from the looks of it these characters are teenagers, so I think it might try to keep an interest in the older fans brought in from Unova, and the young fresh ones just starting their journey.

vaporeon7 January 8th, 2013 5:48 PM

I think they will continue to target everyone, and they'll probably succeed at it to. A fun and exciting storyline for the little ones, with a rich deeper meaning for more mature audiences.

Lord Varion January 8th, 2013 6:22 PM

Though it generally is targeted at ''everyone''
I believe GameFreak have tried to keep the age within the fan base from when R/B were released. In case you've not noticed, it's kind of drifted the Evil Team's goal from Money to world Domination of some form. Heck, In B2 and W2, the player finally is attacked, by the orders of the evil team.

I'm hoping they keep the dark theme and head for more older, not too old, audience.
Like move it from 3+ to around 7 - 12+

Ω Ruby and α Sapphire January 8th, 2013 6:30 PM

I think this game is going to grab peoples attention in different ways. It'll appeal to kids because, well because its Pokemon! They always have cool commercials and advertise the games well so the word gets out. I'll also attract the players of RGB, because so many of them have wanted to experience Pokemon in a 3D environment.

Then again, I would not be surprised if a few people still liked the old ways better, and don't like this new look, I could understand that.

Bluerang1 January 8th, 2013 7:18 PM

No X and Y sound really far from what you'd expect out of Pokemon and this is what GameFreak what to attract a broader audience, especially those Zelda and FF fans who don't pay attention to Pokemon.

OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire January 8th, 2013 7:26 PM

The mascots don't look cutesy at all...well than again the last cute mascot was Pikachu...

Anyways I don't think it'll appeal to teenagers anymore than it already does. Seriously gen V barely did much to bring in older not already older fan or ex fans who are old into the table. So my expectations for this gen's older appeal are low. Oh well I still love them.

Deokishisu January 8th, 2013 7:44 PM

Honestly, if someone hasn't played since R/B/Y, they'll do some research, be completely appalled by the new Pokemon, and not buy X and Y.

The only thing Nintendo could do to keep those of us who've been with them since '97 is to deepen the storyline. There's no going back now that the Gen 5 Pokemon are actual Pokemon, and the mechanics are set in stone. The Pokemon and the mechanics will not be the draw, it'll be the storyline.

However, a deepened, darkened storyline would mess with their E rating which is something they'd probably not wanna give up in a main series game.

Either way, I predict that the storyline will be the biggest factor in the target demographic.

C Payne January 8th, 2013 7:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deokishisu (Post 7480759)
However, a deepened, darkened storyline would mess with their E rating which is something they'd probably not wanna give up in a main series game.

Either way, I predict that the storyline will be the biggest factor in the target demographic.

I'm sure they won't go that deep, haha. They can however go pretty deep in the sense that a younger audience will understand the basics of what's going on but then the older audience could obviously get the full effect of what's going on by potentially understanding more.

An example would be how a younger player(in general; there of course are those who know more) may see Plasma freezing Opelucid and think 'Those bad guys are freezing the city; let's stop them' while an older audience would usually have a better understanding of their motives for doing such and are more aware of what's going on. :P

Deceit January 8th, 2013 8:11 PM

I think it will appeal to people of all ages, as other members mentioned. I kind of liked the Black and White approach, and that's what I'm hoping these games turn out to be. But it is still pretty early to make these assumptions. All we have right now is a 1 and a half minute trailer.

Nick January 8th, 2013 11:05 PM

I'm a firm believer that they aren't targeting a specific demographic in any main series game they release; now, or in the past.

blue January 9th, 2013 2:48 AM

iirc Black & White was aimed at the more mature generation so I think they could easily follow that trend and do the same for these games.

Kura January 12th, 2013 5:54 AM

I also came across this picture:

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/6270262_460s_v1.jpg
Honestly I think it's so true. For the people who grew up with pokemon, I am sure so many of them want to see what the new gen has to offer. And gameplay-wise, it is a game so simple (yet so complex) that even people who have never played a game before can easily get the hang of.

Though for some reason, even though the game will grab everyone, I have a feeling the majority of players will be in their late teens or early 20s :3

Guy January 12th, 2013 6:22 AM

When Pokémon first started off, they may have catered to a younger audience. As of late and for quite a little time now, however, I believe they stopped trying to cater to just one specific target audience and expanded their horizons. One could argue that introducing darker elements and more complex plot lines, making the protagonists older in Gen V, but still keeping every game like it's someone's first time playing and keeping it simple enough to where everyone can play, targets a much broader audience than where they may have first begun. So I don't see why they'd stop doing it now.

Guy January 12th, 2013 6:38 AM

I think in Japan Pokémon is definitely a big hit with the kids, because it's still very much a big and influential franchise in the home market. Whereas in the US and other international countries alike, Pokémon has faded in popularity quite a bit. It's more of the fans who grew up on Pokémon that are the ones who are still into it more so than the younger kids today, who are more into whatever big things are dominating the children's selling market at the moment. It's so rare I see a young kid, especially around the age of 7-12, playing Pokémon on their handheld compared to some other game.

I wouldn't entirely rule out the young audience in the international markets though. I'm sure they are still very much a driving force to sales, but I also think the audience who grew up with it and are still into it, are also a pretty strong force as well, if no stronger, in terms of sales outside of Japan.

It'd be nice if Nintendo of America had any data on that at all today.

Miss Doronjo January 12th, 2013 6:48 AM

I guess to add on to what I've said before, Game Freak pretty much recognized that while Pokémon is a game that targets children, they wanted more people - a broader audience - to play Pokémon. I mean, look at the context of Black & White, that means slightly older characters (teenagers rather than preteens) and a more in-depth story beyond "collect 8 badges, beat the Elite 4, stop whatever plan is being hatched by the villainous team. They've even added some features like 'inferred' that would make connecting with an older audience easier. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same for Pokemon Y & X.

Of course, the core of Pokémon will always be accessible for younger gamers new to the series as well as older ones who've grown up with it. There will be an audience who has never played Pokémon before and there is the advanced player who has always played Pokémon.

An international audience is always there too; there's a good sale opportunity for targeting them as well.

BrandoSheriff January 12th, 2013 9:59 AM

I think that it was meant to target younger people, but it's actually the ones who grew up with the older games who are mostly playing.

I guess Game Freak is trying to balance it, by appealing to younger kids who want to get into Pokemon, along with retaining/evolving the things that older players have grown to love.

darkpokeball January 12th, 2013 12:59 PM

When I was replaying Ruby, as an older player, little kids would come up to me and say 'is dat pokemon, ive played it' and want to steal the handheld. People ended up teasing me and making fun of me because I still loved the games. I then declared that Pokemon was for little kids and never played it again. . .

Then, B/W came out and I loved it...of course, this time, I never played it in public lol. Still, I couldn't help but feel that the games were still targeting a younger audience due to Ghetsis's changing from a deep and actually almost convincing purpose to the generic wanna be ruler of the world.

When B/W2 came out, I was surprised...suddenly, everyone began playing Pokemon again! It turns out I wasn't the only one playing in secret...soon, a ton of kids in my school, (all of us being the older generation), were playing the games. That's when I declared a new statement:
'Pokemon targets the li'l kiddies, but it somehow captures the older generation as well.'
I'm seriously hoping that Pokemon gets darker to appeal more to the older players...because like it or not, little kids these days just jam A and skip the cutscenes, so having some dark themes in there wouldn't even be noticed...to them, it's just ''Ooh, beat trainers, beat gyms, stop bad guys." (Which is pokemon at the core, but there's still a lot more, storyline, post-game, themes, raising to level 100, EV's, IV's, shinies, etc.)

Sabrewulf238 January 12th, 2013 1:16 PM

I remember in the Pokemon Direct Iwata specifically mentioned that some of the audience would have been playing since Pokemon Red/Blue (Green)
So they definitely recognise that there are people in their 20's playing the games since the very beginning.

I really feel pokemon can be a game for every age.

Vehks January 12th, 2013 1:57 PM

Pokémon nowadays is pretty much marketed to all ages, as had already been mentioned here, but they still try to keep the overall game simple so kids can still get on board.

droomph January 12th, 2013 2:03 PM

Their style of games is, "We're going to get the first generation of Pokémon fans on board, and then bring them along, while taking in more fans!"

So basically, they're maturing the franchise while still keeping it to its original intent.

And they're doing a great job! I can't tell you how "epic"-ed I felt when I played BW2…I didn't feel like I was playing what's essentially a kid's game. I felt like I was playing a legitimate game, such as COD or Crysis 2 or whatever the cool kids are playing, but it's actually a kid's game!

It's the balance that has made Pokémon so popular over the years.


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