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Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

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Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#21

Post by GolDDranks »

tehlike wrote: post #15
sandworm101 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potter is dead. It was a franchise pegged to a particular generation. The original author consciously upped the aged of the books to match the age of the fans. The movies did the same. Potter fans have now grown up. They don't relate to the material as they did as kids. They find the early material childish, silly. Marketing potter to them again is very difficult. Similar franchises (star wars/trek etc) did not attem…

I believe you could say the same thing for pokemon.

Expect that Pokemon has done the exact opposite: it deliberately has not upped the age of the target audience of the core product. Ash is still ten years old, after adventuring for 20 years. And he's still "relatively unexperienced". Time doesn't pass.

Pokemon has diversified the franchise selection though, there are now many goods (themed tableware etc.) aimed for more mature audience.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#23

Post by travisr »

swampthinker wrote: post #22

I firmly believe that had Niantic been allowed to mimic the traditional Pokemon PvP, it would have been an even greater success. The core gameplay of the Nintendo games wasn't terribly complex, but had tons of replayability.

What do you mean by "allowed"?

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#24

Post by otoburb »

steve19 wrote: post #7
otoburb wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> [...] given that unlike Pokemon, Harry Potter isn't really a franchise defined by the location-based hunt-and-collect mechanic that drives Pokemon Go and Ingress. Pokémon itself wasn't location driven either before the launch of Pokémon Go.

The games, and I assume the anime, are about searching for pokemon in different locations.

You assume correctly about the anime. Then again, Harry Potter also turned into a quest to search for Voldemort's seven horcruxes, so it won't be much of a stretch to adapt Harry Potter to a location-based game.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#25

Post by TotempaaltJ »

travisr wrote: post #23
swampthinker wrote: post #22

I firmly believe that had Niantic been allowed to mimic the traditional Pokemon PvP, it would have been an even greater success. The core gameplay of the Nintendo games wasn't terribly complex, but had tons of replayability.

What do you mean by "allowed"?

From what I understand, their contract with Nintendo (or whoever) explicitly dissolve disallowed it.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#26

Post by krick »

b_tterc_p wrote: post #9

I would bet on the Harry Potter game being a relative flop. The Japanese market will probably be dead and that accounted for a huge proportion of Pokémon Go’s revenue. I would also doubt that many “whales” would be immediately attracted to the premise. They will have a tough time not just being Pokémon go but with Harry Potter this time, and I bet that will hurt mainstream adoption.

Somehow I don't expect HP to be very successful project as well, but the reasoning seems off to me. If anything, Japanese market is more open to new HP franchise products than the others. But I don't think it was actually the Pokemon that made the game successful, it was the mere fact of neutral, yet well-known setting in combination with a relatively novel gameplay. Ingress attracted attention as it was, but lacked the familiar name. But essentially Pokemon Go is the same thing as Ingress, and HP will probably be too. It doesn't seem to be as attractive as that combination of novelty and nostalgia of Pokemon Go 5 years ago.

This isn't even remotely a reason for why the game should fail of course, merely absence of an obvious reason for it to succeed. But IMO: while having absolutely huge potential to be great, neither Ingress nor Pokemon Go turned out to be a particularly good game. Maybe HP will be different, but for now I stand by the opinion that Niantic actually isn't a great game-making company.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#27

Post by chc4 »

swampthinker wrote: post #22

I firmly believe that had Niantic been allowed to mimic the traditional Pokemon PvP, it would have been an even greater success. The core gameplay of the Nintendo games wasn't terribly complex, but had tons of replayability.

They added (limited) PvP to Pokemon Go yesterday.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#28

Post by wokwokwok »

TotempaaltJ wrote: post #25
travisr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "allowed"?

From what I understand, their contract with Nintendo (or whoever) explicitly dissolve disallowed it.

That’s an odd assertion, given PvP battles are now live.

Do you have anything to back it up?

My understanding was that they just have a small team and aren’t very good (ie. brave enough) at making changes beyond ‘text fixes’

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#29

Post by jerf »

GolDDranks wrote: post #21
tehlike wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you could say the same thing for pokemon.

Expect that Pokemon has done the exact opposite: it deliberately has not upped the age of the target audience of the core product. Ash is still ten years old, after adventuring for 20 years. And he's still "relatively unexperienced". Time doesn't pass. Pokemon has diversified the franchise selection though, there are now many goods (themed tableware etc.) aimed for more mature audience.

I've seen at least 3 or 4 posts to the tune of "I'm 23, and I just can't get into this latest Pokemon game. It's so easy, not like they used to be! Am I a bad person?"

If you value your karma score, on no account should you say anything like "It's OK, Pokemon is a game designed for children, and while that doesn't mean you must now make an angry face at it, growl, and loudly announce that you're too grown up for it now, it does mean that you're likely going to want to move on. Consider {GAME LIST} for similar more mature takes on the ideas."

In the meantime, my 8 and 10 year olds, while not necessarily mega-fans, are decently into it, and will probably be even more so when they actually get their hands on the games. System is working as designed.

Re: Niantic, Maker of Hit ‘Pokémon Go’ App, Refuels with $3.9B Valuation

#30

Post by oregontechninja »

wokwokwok wrote: post #28
TotempaaltJ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, their contract with Nintendo (or whoever) explicitly dissolve disallowed it.

That’s an odd assertion, given PvP battles are now live. Do you have anything to back it up? My understanding was that they just have a small team and aren’t very good (ie. brave enough) at making changes beyond ‘text fixes’

He's saying traditional as in a turn based strategy game like the core series (like Red and Blue). Many of the long time fans were turned away by lack of strategy.
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