Main Game Pokemon Sales

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Am I the only person who believes Game Freak's goal when it comes to Pokemon is to surpass sales of the original R/B/Y games? The Gen 1 games sold over 31 million units since its first release, and since then, none of the other post-Gen 1 games managed to meet the same sales. Gen 2 was the closest to beat Gen 1 in terms of sales with over 23 million units, and the rest ranged from mid to late 10 million units. I fear that because of this, it could potentially ruin Pokemon's quality from the game community when dealing with titles like Call of Duty, which sold more units than recent gen Pokemon games. Not only that, it'll also lead people to believe that Gen 1 is the better installment in the series despite the major improvements later gens have made with the game mechanics. I really hope Gen 6 will surpass Gen 1's sales, as well as Gen 2's reputation as the best in the series by fans, which Gen 5 failed to do because of the huge controversy it has caused in the fanbase with its pattern/tradition-breaking changes. Pokemon isn't the only franchise I'm concerned about in terms in sales, but also other best-selling Nintendo franchises: Mario and Zelda. What could be the reason why later Pokemon games fail to reach the same number of units as Gen 1's? What must be done to boost Gen 6's sales to complete this difficult task?

 

[Cura]

What must be done to boost Gen 6's sales to complete this difficult task?

Personally, it depends on a few key factors, when it comes to the Pokemon games.

1.) The Type of Gamer: Its obvious that the type of gamer is the first thing. Since developers are scared crapless to step out of the box with a new idea, fearing rejection or even being fired for it as of late. Many focus on the gamer and personally... I dislike this. The gamer of today is way too laxed in my opinion. Many games that were fun, like Pokemon R/B/G/Y were because the games were made for an all-audience gamer, not someone who wants to get it, beat it an hour and then be done with it. Seriously... why is that? Why are gamers like, 'OH NEW GAME!' *play it, done within 2 hrs* OKAY NEXT ONE!" Completely forgetting the game that they played, or having no memories of it. Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow had charm, fun and enjoyment. It was memorable. An example of these memorable feelings is when I play HG/SS on my DS, I just... Feel the memories playing it.

2.) New Ideas: Woo! Pokemon is fun! Wait... same story every time? Okay, its nice to play in a whole new region. Fight an evil team, become champ... but seriously... all the time? Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald had a neat step with the Pokemon Contests in the game, which were a challenge [for me a bit]. I think a lot of people, us gamers can agree. The game can be Pokemon, but maybe a little freshness can brighten up the series. New Pokemon, New Region, New story. You see?

3.) Being backwards-compatible: And finally, being straight to the point. The DS and the 3DS can link up, why can't we have a trading, battle or GTS through the games? Why is it with odd mini-games or something that isn't really needed? Pokemon is Pokemon, you meet people who train and trade Pokemon to complete the National Dex. Right? Other than that, why not make more than just a little amount of outer-region Pokemon in the postgame? Either way. It would be nice to have some backwards-compatible gaming.

Personal Point: WHERE IS MY HOENN REGION REMAKE.

 

[UltPkmShdwn]

The only way they will ever beat those Gen 1 sales is if they make every single pokemon and evolution available without trading or hacking in a single game. I really hope X and Y will have this so we don't have to wait another year or two for an ultimate remake

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The only way they will ever beat those Gen 1 sales is if they make every single pokemon and evolution available without trading or hacking in a single game. I really hope X and Y will have this so we don't have to wait another year or two for an ultimate remake

Wouldn't that actually harm sales? Trading is Pokemon's strongest gimmick, as it forces you to buy the other versions, which gives Game Freak more money as well as increase sales.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Pokemon fails to reach the level of sales they enjoyed in the first gen because quite frankly, gaming is simply a whole lot bigger than it was in the late 90's and there is much more competition on the market. The primary audience of the franchise is young children, who have a lot more choices when they nag their parents to buy something. Console technology from Sony and Microsoft is impressive, and so is that of todays mobile phones. Why buy a Nintendo DS when you could get an iphone that can play games, make calls/SMS and use heaps of social media and helpful applications? (that point is more directed towards adults) If Pokemon was an IoS app it would probably get millions upon millions of downloads like Temple Run, Angry Birds etc. But those are gimmicky time wasters, and Pokemon has more depth than that.

Yet analysts believe mobile games and androids are killing the handheld and console market, and want games like Pokemon to move into our mobile devices to survive.

But I do agree with a user above, same story and layout every time, really Game Freak? Maybe you shouldn't be afraid to innovate, like spinoff titles have done (although I didn't play Gen 5, so I might be wrong).

Mario and Zelda follow the same story and layout, yet they still sell like hotcakes. It's important that they don't tolerate on changing the gameplay drastically and make it another Nuts 'n' Bolts or Resident Evil 6.

 

[lmcde22]

I definately agree that it's because of competition. The sheer number of games you can choose from these days is incredible so it makes sense that sales would drop. And they would never put every Pokemon in one game. They make way too many sales from people who want to finish the National Dex. (Guilty of buying Emerald+Ruby just to finish my Hoenn Dex on Sapphire and get Totodile) Maybe if they make a slightly different plot more people will buy it. What if we get to play as a deserter of the criminal team or something cool like that? I would buy that game.