Where do you see the Pokemon franchise in 10 years?

Or anywhere far in the future.

My view is that personally I would think it wouldn't last long but in reality it looks like each generation of kids is groomed by the current anime, current games, merchandising, marketing hype, to grow attached to the franchise thus creating a cycle of profitable nostalgia. So yeah the franchise seems to run on nostalgia fuel more than anything else meaning it'll probably last a long time but GF will not ever improve in raising the quality of pokemon games as they realize it is not necessary to make massive profits which worries me a bit. It is slowly becoming similar to Call of Duty in a way where the minimal effort can be put in but the masses will eat it up anyways.

Anyways this is just my opinion of course, hope I didn't offend anyone.

That is a very good question.

I can't answer definitively until I see gen 8. The biggest step up the franchise has ever had. Will it be innovative, truly next generation Pokemon or just more of the same?

That'll determine to me how far GF is willing to go. Take the easy nostalgia slide or really step it up? And then I'll have an easier time gauging them in the next decade.

I mean, the franchise has lasted over 20 years, who's to say that it's unable to last another 10? It may be hard to conceptualize but there will be another generation after us that will appreciate Pokemon (to which degree is debatable but that's not really relevant) much like we did when we were kids, and chances are more often than not that they'll grow up still liking the franchise, as well.

Pokemon is not dying anytime soon, regardless of what cynicism is out there.

colours said:

Pokemon is not dying anytime soon, regardless of what cynicism is out there.

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Pokemon also no longer has the same novelty as when it was new 20+ years ago. Everything gets stagnant eventually, regardless what blind optimism is out there.

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

Pokemon also no longer has the same novelty as when it was new 20+ years ago. Everything gets stagnant eventually, regardless what blind optimism is out there.

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Pokemon is still the highest grossing media franchise and doesnt really seem to show signs of slowing down.

What needs to be understood is that there is more to Pokemon than just the video games. Merchandise is huge, the TCG scene is still very much relevant and will continue to be for a while to come.

Sure, everything gets stagnant eventually. You can make that argument for literally every single popular form of media out there. But for Pokemon's case, in the next 10 years? Nah, unlikely to happen.

colours said:

Pokemon is still the highest grossing media franchise and doesnt really seem to show signs of slowing down.

What needs to be understood is that there is more to Pokemon than just the video games. Merchandise is huge, the TCG scene is still very much relevant and will continue to be for a while to come.

Sure, everything gets stagnant eventually. You can make that argument for literally every single popular form of media out there. But for Pokemon's case, in the next 10 years? Nah, unlikely to happen.

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10 years is probably too early for something so established as Pokemon in general, sure, but I've already seen a lot of cynicism about the future from long-term fans recently, so I feel at least the older generations are starting to dwindle.

But keep in mind, this topic wasn't about IF Pokemon would still be around in ten years. I don't think anyone doubts it will be. But rather just where do you think it will possibly be in that time.

My original post still stands that the series would pretty much be the same it has ever been.

colours said:

Pokemon is still the highest grossing media franchise and doesnt really seem to show signs of slowing down.

What needs to be understood is that there is more to Pokemon than just the video games. Merchandise is huge, the TCG scene is still very much relevant and will continue to be for a while to come.

Sure, everything gets stagnant eventually. You can make that argument for literally every single popular form of media out there. But for Pokemon's case, in the next 10 years? Nah, unlikely to happen.

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The TCG is bigger than it's ever been outside of the very first fever buying of Base Set. It'll keep growing, even if the games slow down

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

10 years is probably too early for something so established as Pokemon in general, sure, but I've already seen a lot of cynicism about the future from long-term fans recently, so I feel at least the older generations are starting to dwindle.

But keep in mind, this topic wasn't about IF Pokemon would still be around in ten years. I don't think anyone doubts it will be. But rather just where do you think it will possibly be in that time.

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Well, MTG came out in 1993 and hasn't stopped growing. PTCG came out (internationally) in 1998 and has continued to grow to the point that in 2017 it held over 70% share of the card game market in Europe. The franchise might slow with games, but the merchandise, card game and other offshoots will continue to grow

While it might be a crazy opinion, I think that as far as the games are concerned, if Game Freak/TPCi were to fall flat on their faces with the next couple of releases, it would actually be good for the franchise in the long term. Right now with the yearly cycle of games, we've been getting a lot of okay to good games, but no great ones in my opinion. Hopefully if the numbers were to start slipping, they would have to go back to the drawing board with some of their approaches, and put a little more effort into their products to win people back.

As far as the TCG and anime are concerned, they will continue to chug along as they always have. MtG has been going strong for 25 years, and anime like Doraemon and Dragon Ball have spanned across multiple series for 30+ years now, so even if we see changes in art style and format like we did with the Sun & Moon version of the anime, I think it'll be doing just fine 10 years from now.