Pokémon is Evolving! An investigation into the development of the Pokémon community and expectations for the future of the franchise
Abstract
Pokémon is one of Nintendo’s largest, most influential franchises. With a history ranging more than twenty years, its enormous fan-base spans video and trading card games, anime TV shows and films, amongst other media. This paper aims to investigate the Pokémon fan community while exploring how the franchise has grown: from its beginnings as a pop-culture phenomenon, to one of the strongest and friendliest gaming fan communities in existence today. Data gathered from 165 online respondents examines how fans’ past experiences with the franchise inform their expectations towards future products. It also explores how considerable efforts from developers – as well as the gaming community – contribute to the creative growth of a continually-expanding fan-base. Additionally, this study was in a unique position to gather data before two new Pokémon games were released: Pokken Tournament and Pokémon GO. The former did not generate high expectations but still performed well in terms of sales. The latter was thought of as a casual game but, as the world now knows, was a tremendous success. Insights obtained from researching fan attitudes to unreleased games show that expectations do not always become reality.References
"Magic". (2016, 3 2). A history of Japanese competitive Pokemon - 1996 and 1997. Retrieved from Nuggetbridge: http://nuggetbridge.com/blogs/entry/1391-a-history-of-japanese-competitive-pokemon-1996-and-1997/
"Priscilla". (2016, 9 5+). Pokémon anime and narrative reward. Retrieved from Fandom Following: http://www.fandomfollowing.com/pokemon-anime/
Achterbosch, L., Miller, C., & Vamplew, P. (2013). Ganking, corpse camping and ninja Looting from the perception of the MMORPG community: Acceptable behavior or unacceptable griefing? IE '13 Proceedings of the 9th Australasian conference on interactive entertainment: Matters of life and death (p. article number 19). ACM.
Allan, R. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon GO usage statistics say it’s the most popular mobile game in U.S. history. Retrieved from Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/business/intelligence/pokemon-go-usage-statistics/
Anderton, J. (2014, 9 22). How pokemon survived 90s pokemania. Retrieved from Den of Geek: http://www.denofgeek.com/games/pok-mon/32027/how-pokemon-survived-90s-pokemania
Ashton, D., & Newman, J. (2010). Relations of control: Walkthroughs and the structuring of player agency. The Fibreculture Journal.
Bartle, R. A. (1996, 4). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Retrieved from Richard A. Bartle: Players who suit MUDs: http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
Barry, A. (2016, 8 8). How Pokémon Go Helps Me with My Agoraphobia. Retrieved from Paste Magazine: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/08/how-pokemon-go-helps-me-with-my-agoraphobia.html
Carter, C. (2016, 8 18). Pokken Tournament defies odds, ships one million units on Wii U. Retrieved from Destructoid: https://www.destructoid.com/pokken-tournament-defies-odds-ships-one-million-units-on-wii-u-381218.phtml
Creamer, R. (2016, 2 23). Pokémon conspiracy theories that yearn to explain the unexplained. Retrieved from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2016/02/23/pokemon-conspiracy-theories/
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2016, 8 7). Pokemon ¦ electronic game ¦ Britannica.com. Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pokemon-electronic-game
Entertainment Software Association. (2016). Essential facts 2016. Retrieved from Essential Facts - the ESA: http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/Essential-Facts-2016.pdf
Ferguson, C. J. (2016 8 19). Pokémon Go: The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Retrieved from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pok%C3%A9mon-go-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly_us_57b70657e4b029a9a4659c75
Geraghty, L. (2014). Cult collectors: Nostalgia, fandom and collecting popular culture. New York: Routledge.
Graft, K. (2009, 5 29). Analysis: The psychology behind item collecting and achievement hoarding. Retrieved from Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/114668/Analysis_The_Psychology_Behind_Item_Collecting_And_Achievement_Hoarding.php
Hamari, J., & Sjöblom, M. (2017). What is eSports and why do people watch it? DOI: 10.1108/IntR-04-2016-0085
Hau, Y. S., & Kim, Y-Gm (2011). Why would online gamers share their innovation-conducive knowledge in the online game user community? Integrating individual motivations and social capital perspectives. Computers in human behaviour, 956-970
Juul, J. (2010). A casual revolution. London: MIT Press.
Klei, T. M. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon Go helps people with anxiety, stress and more! Retrieved from Geek & Sundry: http://geekandsundry.com/pokemon-go-helps-people-with-anxiety-stress-and-more/
Lachenal, J. (2016, 7 10). It’s super effective: players say Pokémon Go helps their mental health. Retrieved from The Mary Sue: http://www.themarysue.com/pokemon-go-mental-health/
Lammers, J. C. (2013). Fangirls as teachers: examining pedagogic. Learning, Media and Technology, 368-386.
L-Z, T. (2016 7 12). The Unexpected Neighbor I Met While Playing Pokemon Go. Retrieved from The Mighty: https://themighty.com/2016/07/woman-with-agoraphobia-meets-stranger-playing-pokemon-go/
Makuch, E. (2016, 11 04) Sony Exec Responds to No Man's Sky Controversy. Retrieved from Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-exec-responds-to-no-mans-sky-controversy/1100-6445107/
Mannell, K., Fordyce, R., & Apperley, T. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon Go a walk in the park. Retrieved from Pursuit, the University of Melbourne: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/pokemon-go-a-walk-in-the-park
Mcintosh, W. D., & Schmeichel, B. (2004). Collectors and collecting: A social psychological perspective. Leisure Sciences, 85-97.
Meta, (2016, 7 1). Look Here: A comprehensive history of augmented reality. Retrieved from Meta Vision: https://blog.metavision.com/comprehensive-history-of-augmented-reality
Monroy-Hernández, A. (2012, 9). Designing for remixing: Supporting an online community of amateur creators. Retrieved from Life Long Kindergarten : papers: https://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/andres-dissertation.pdf
Moore, C. (2016, 8 23). Pokemon Go Go Go! Crazy moment thousands of players sprint down busy Taipei road to catch rare Snorlax hiding in side street . Retrieved from daily mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3754255/Pokemon-Crazy-moment-thousands-players-sprint-busy-Taipei-road-catch-rare-Snorlax-hiding-street.html
Niantic, Inc. (2016). Explore! ¦ Pokémon Go. Retrieved from Pokemongo: http://www.pokemongo.com/en-uk/explore/
Park, S.-b., & Chung, N. (2011). Mediating roles of self-presentation desire in online game community commitment and trust behavior of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. Computers in Human Behavior, 2372–2379.
Plunkett, L. (2011, 5 30). The Origins of Pokémon. Retrieved from Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5806664/how-pokemon-was-born-from-bug-collecting-and-aspergers-syndrome
Pokémon. (2016). [Pikachu Outbreak!]. Retrieved from Pokemon: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/splash_pikachu/en/
Pokémon/Nintendo. (2016). Pokémon TCG. Retrieved from Pokémon Trading Card Game ¦ Pokemon.com: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/
Porter, G., Starcevic, V., Berle, D., & Fenech, P. (2010). Recognizing problem video game use. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 120-128.
Reddit. (2016). Pokemon conspiracies and mysteries. Retrieved from Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonconspiracies/
Romano, S. (2016, 3 23). Media create sales: 3/14/16 – 3/20/16. Retrieved from Gematsu: http://gematsu.com/2016/03/media-create-sales-31416-32016
Seay, A. F., Jerome, W. J., Lee, K. S., & Kraut, R. E. (2004). Project massive: A study of online gaming communities. CHI 2004 (pp. 1421-1424). Vienna: ACM.
Sherlock, L. (2009). Genre, activity, and collaborative work and play in world of warcraft: places and problems of open systems in online gaming. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 263-293.
Smith, D. (2016, 10 24). 'Pokémon Go' is dying — and Niantic is doing little to stop the bleeding. Retrieved from Business Insider UK - Tech: http://uk.businessinsider.com/pokemon-go-niantic-labs-ruining-the-game-2016-10?r=US&IR=T
Smogon.com. (2015). Smogon University. Retrieved from smogon: http://www.smogon.com/
Statt, N. (2016, 7 22). Pokémon Go breaks App Store record for most first-week downloads in history. Retrieved from The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/22/12258874/pokemon-go-apple-ios-app-store-record-most-downloads
SuperData Research. (2016, 7 11). Pokemon GO! has made $14M already. Retrieved from super data research: https://www.superdataresearch.com/pokemon-go-has-made-14m-already/
The Pokémon Company. (2016). Business Summary ¦ The Pokémon Company. Retrieved from Pokemon: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/corporate/en/business/
The Pokémon Company. (2016). Watch Pokémon TV. Retrieved from pokemon: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-episodes/
Tondello, G. F., Wehbe, R. R., Toups, Z. O., Nacke, L. E., & Crenshaw, N. K. (2015). Understanding player attitudes towards digital game objects. CHI PLAY '15 Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 709-714 ). London: ACM.
Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., & Juechems, K. (2012). The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human Behavior, 832-839.
Williams, D. (2009). Groups and Goblins: The social and civic impact of an online game. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 651-670.
Young, J. R. (2008) YouTube Professors-Scholars as Online Video Stars. The Chronicle of Higher Education, A17
"Priscilla". (2016, 9 5+). Pokémon anime and narrative reward. Retrieved from Fandom Following: http://www.fandomfollowing.com/pokemon-anime/
Achterbosch, L., Miller, C., & Vamplew, P. (2013). Ganking, corpse camping and ninja Looting from the perception of the MMORPG community: Acceptable behavior or unacceptable griefing? IE '13 Proceedings of the 9th Australasian conference on interactive entertainment: Matters of life and death (p. article number 19). ACM.
Allan, R. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon GO usage statistics say it’s the most popular mobile game in U.S. history. Retrieved from Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/business/intelligence/pokemon-go-usage-statistics/
Anderton, J. (2014, 9 22). How pokemon survived 90s pokemania. Retrieved from Den of Geek: http://www.denofgeek.com/games/pok-mon/32027/how-pokemon-survived-90s-pokemania
Ashton, D., & Newman, J. (2010). Relations of control: Walkthroughs and the structuring of player agency. The Fibreculture Journal.
Bartle, R. A. (1996, 4). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Retrieved from Richard A. Bartle: Players who suit MUDs: http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
Barry, A. (2016, 8 8). How Pokémon Go Helps Me with My Agoraphobia. Retrieved from Paste Magazine: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/08/how-pokemon-go-helps-me-with-my-agoraphobia.html
Carter, C. (2016, 8 18). Pokken Tournament defies odds, ships one million units on Wii U. Retrieved from Destructoid: https://www.destructoid.com/pokken-tournament-defies-odds-ships-one-million-units-on-wii-u-381218.phtml
Creamer, R. (2016, 2 23). Pokémon conspiracy theories that yearn to explain the unexplained. Retrieved from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2016/02/23/pokemon-conspiracy-theories/
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2016, 8 7). Pokemon ¦ electronic game ¦ Britannica.com. Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pokemon-electronic-game
Entertainment Software Association. (2016). Essential facts 2016. Retrieved from Essential Facts - the ESA: http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/Essential-Facts-2016.pdf
Ferguson, C. J. (2016 8 19). Pokémon Go: The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Retrieved from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pok%C3%A9mon-go-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly_us_57b70657e4b029a9a4659c75
Geraghty, L. (2014). Cult collectors: Nostalgia, fandom and collecting popular culture. New York: Routledge.
Graft, K. (2009, 5 29). Analysis: The psychology behind item collecting and achievement hoarding. Retrieved from Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/114668/Analysis_The_Psychology_Behind_Item_Collecting_And_Achievement_Hoarding.php
Hamari, J., & Sjöblom, M. (2017). What is eSports and why do people watch it? DOI: 10.1108/IntR-04-2016-0085
Hau, Y. S., & Kim, Y-Gm (2011). Why would online gamers share their innovation-conducive knowledge in the online game user community? Integrating individual motivations and social capital perspectives. Computers in human behaviour, 956-970
Juul, J. (2010). A casual revolution. London: MIT Press.
Klei, T. M. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon Go helps people with anxiety, stress and more! Retrieved from Geek & Sundry: http://geekandsundry.com/pokemon-go-helps-people-with-anxiety-stress-and-more/
Lachenal, J. (2016, 7 10). It’s super effective: players say Pokémon Go helps their mental health. Retrieved from The Mary Sue: http://www.themarysue.com/pokemon-go-mental-health/
Lammers, J. C. (2013). Fangirls as teachers: examining pedagogic. Learning, Media and Technology, 368-386.
L-Z, T. (2016 7 12). The Unexpected Neighbor I Met While Playing Pokemon Go. Retrieved from The Mighty: https://themighty.com/2016/07/woman-with-agoraphobia-meets-stranger-playing-pokemon-go/
Makuch, E. (2016, 11 04) Sony Exec Responds to No Man's Sky Controversy. Retrieved from Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-exec-responds-to-no-mans-sky-controversy/1100-6445107/
Mannell, K., Fordyce, R., & Apperley, T. (2016, 7 13). Pokémon Go a walk in the park. Retrieved from Pursuit, the University of Melbourne: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/pokemon-go-a-walk-in-the-park
Mcintosh, W. D., & Schmeichel, B. (2004). Collectors and collecting: A social psychological perspective. Leisure Sciences, 85-97.
Meta, (2016, 7 1). Look Here: A comprehensive history of augmented reality. Retrieved from Meta Vision: https://blog.metavision.com/comprehensive-history-of-augmented-reality
Monroy-Hernández, A. (2012, 9). Designing for remixing: Supporting an online community of amateur creators. Retrieved from Life Long Kindergarten : papers: https://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/andres-dissertation.pdf
Moore, C. (2016, 8 23). Pokemon Go Go Go! Crazy moment thousands of players sprint down busy Taipei road to catch rare Snorlax hiding in side street . Retrieved from daily mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3754255/Pokemon-Crazy-moment-thousands-players-sprint-busy-Taipei-road-catch-rare-Snorlax-hiding-street.html
Niantic, Inc. (2016). Explore! ¦ Pokémon Go. Retrieved from Pokemongo: http://www.pokemongo.com/en-uk/explore/
Park, S.-b., & Chung, N. (2011). Mediating roles of self-presentation desire in online game community commitment and trust behavior of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. Computers in Human Behavior, 2372–2379.
Plunkett, L. (2011, 5 30). The Origins of Pokémon. Retrieved from Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5806664/how-pokemon-was-born-from-bug-collecting-and-aspergers-syndrome
Pokémon. (2016). [Pikachu Outbreak!]. Retrieved from Pokemon: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/splash_pikachu/en/
Pokémon/Nintendo. (2016). Pokémon TCG. Retrieved from Pokémon Trading Card Game ¦ Pokemon.com: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/
Porter, G., Starcevic, V., Berle, D., & Fenech, P. (2010). Recognizing problem video game use. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 120-128.
Reddit. (2016). Pokemon conspiracies and mysteries. Retrieved from Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonconspiracies/
Romano, S. (2016, 3 23). Media create sales: 3/14/16 – 3/20/16. Retrieved from Gematsu: http://gematsu.com/2016/03/media-create-sales-31416-32016
Seay, A. F., Jerome, W. J., Lee, K. S., & Kraut, R. E. (2004). Project massive: A study of online gaming communities. CHI 2004 (pp. 1421-1424). Vienna: ACM.
Sherlock, L. (2009). Genre, activity, and collaborative work and play in world of warcraft: places and problems of open systems in online gaming. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 263-293.
Smith, D. (2016, 10 24). 'Pokémon Go' is dying — and Niantic is doing little to stop the bleeding. Retrieved from Business Insider UK - Tech: http://uk.businessinsider.com/pokemon-go-niantic-labs-ruining-the-game-2016-10?r=US&IR=T
Smogon.com. (2015). Smogon University. Retrieved from smogon: http://www.smogon.com/
Statt, N. (2016, 7 22). Pokémon Go breaks App Store record for most first-week downloads in history. Retrieved from The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/22/12258874/pokemon-go-apple-ios-app-store-record-most-downloads
SuperData Research. (2016, 7 11). Pokemon GO! has made $14M already. Retrieved from super data research: https://www.superdataresearch.com/pokemon-go-has-made-14m-already/
The Pokémon Company. (2016). Business Summary ¦ The Pokémon Company. Retrieved from Pokemon: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/corporate/en/business/
The Pokémon Company. (2016). Watch Pokémon TV. Retrieved from pokemon: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-episodes/
Tondello, G. F., Wehbe, R. R., Toups, Z. O., Nacke, L. E., & Crenshaw, N. K. (2015). Understanding player attitudes towards digital game objects. CHI PLAY '15 Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 709-714 ). London: ACM.
Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., & Juechems, K. (2012). The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human Behavior, 832-839.
Williams, D. (2009). Groups and Goblins: The social and civic impact of an online game. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 651-670.
Young, J. R. (2008) YouTube Professors-Scholars as Online Video Stars. The Chronicle of Higher Education, A17
Published
June 12, 2017
Issue
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright for papers and articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the University of Glasgow. It is a condition of publication that authors license their paper or article under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.
