Pokemon MMO on the Horizon?

This is going to get long… TL;DR? There’s more factors to worry about in making money than simple numbers. Read on if you’re interested in my POV.

The problem isn’t with Nintendo, it’s more to do with what making an MMO would entail. Pokemon has and (probably) always will be aimed at kids. The original concept behind the game was to get them to interact with eachother on the playground in a shared experience. I grew up when the game had just come out, followed by the card game. Lots of kids played, and through the game found friends. This isn’t really the case anymore. Lots of non-kids do play the game, but the focus is still on kids.

Going by the sales of Pearl/Diamond (17.1 million), there’s a good good market there, but 17.1 million console games does not directly correlate into 17.1 million subscribers to a Pokemon MMO(arguement 1). I personally play Pokemon because it’s portable, the mechanics, and because it’s a tie to my past. Hooking it up into an MMO ruins my main reason to play the game (argument 2). For a lot of other people this will be the same. Then we have to look at the target audience. Selling a single game for $35 is easier than getting parents to pay 30 upfront and a 10 dollar renewal fee (argument 3).

Then we have to look at a redesign of mechanics which is expensive (4). Using the same mechanics is great for a hardcore group of gamers (such as those in the above-mentioned MMOs), but the general amount of players will tire and let their subs slip (5). We would also need to look into expansions, which include an on-going and more error-prone system of updating versus a one-off solution which Gamefreak does now (6). And then there’s the maintenance of the servers for your subs (7).

But the main killing factor of a Pokemon MMO is the accountability (8) of the company. In most online games, you have to be a certain age or have a parent consent, but this would ruin the image of Pokemon to many families. It may be awesome to have a pokemon named “cawk” in your version, but having this supported and proliferate in a game aimed at kids would definally cause controversy. This may not happen in the current MMOs, but we’re talking about dedicated fanatics/hobbyists who love the game. Many are older than the target demographic and love the game because of the time they have spent with it. If this were to become comercialized, expect something similar to WoW, where there would be 10-13 year olds running around with bought characters screaming swear words and put downs at the caps of their keyboards(9). Opening a game up to user interaction is great if the users are responsible enough to try and maintain the atmosphere, or at least civility within the game world. But this isn’t the case, generally, and this is why most games are closed worlds(10).

So to sum it up, 1: Copies sold of Pokemon do not directly correllate to the amount of subscriptions an MMO will have, due to 2: loss of portability and 3: the subscription cost (which many kids can’t justify to their parents). Even to pull this off, mechanics would need to be redone(4) in order to attract and keep subscriptions(5), including expansion packs(6) which would need to be actively produced on a tight time-line to keep subs to pay for servers(7). Gamefreak would then have to police their own content(8) to try and keep it kid-safe in order to protect their franchise’s image without alienating the consumers, who generally will screw with the system(9 and 10).

BTW, this isn’t the stance of Nintendo, Gamefreak, or anyone else connected with Pokemon. This is coming from a gamer who has spent years playing MMOs (and games in general) in every category. While I can’t guarantee that these thoughts are true for Nintendo, these are some of the general issues that any child-friendly franchise would face.

To close, I’ll echo what I said above. Nintendo is out to make money. There are more factors to worry about than just sending out a product for consumers to buy. Going into an MMO, especially for a IP like Pokemon would be very risky at the scale they operate on (house-hold name). The Pokemon MMOs currently out survive and thrive because of their limited size. They are not popular enough to attract non-hardcore players, and they are small enough that they do not cause much threat to the Pokemon IP by existing. This is a completely different market than what Gamefreak would be capable of, and it is why they work.

i dont know why good has no pokemon games not evan other websits! i mean really come on guys we need something!!!!!!!!! cause i mean with all of us fans here there are bunches!!!!!! so come on make something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Truthfully I doubt the market for Pokemin is as young as it used to be. Even Nintendo has recognized it by making slightly older characters in their latest installment. Also some of he negatvie arguments forget the core army of MMO players out there and how this installment could bring more players in general to the Pokemon Realm.