‘That’s When Pokémon Will Go Downhill’: The Pokémon Company President Teases Future of the Franchise Ahead of 30-Year Anniversary – CBR

Since its 1996 debut, Pokémon — the world’s largest multimedia empire — has made an indelible impact on the world of entertainment. Recently, The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara opened up about how the franchise has maintained, and will continue to maintain, its global popularity.The original Pokémon Red and Blue video games hit the gaming scene in February 1996. From its subsequent anime, manga, video game and trading card game installments, the franchise has garnered millions of dedicated followers. Ishihara, who has been CEO of The Pokémon Company since 1998, argues that his company’s biggest advantage is its ability to innovate, which helps it remain relevant to modern audiences. Ishihara elaborated on this and more during a recent discussion with BBC News. “[We want to] enrich both the real world and the virtual world,” he stated. “This is what I think is the biggest strength of Pokémon, and it’s important for us to come up with this type of idea.”This September, Netflix’s hit slice-of-life Pokémon series returns with brand-new adventures featuring Haru, her partner Psyduck and more.Pokémon has gone out of its way to connect with the largest possible audience. 2016 saw the debut of the mobile game Pokémon Go, which became an overnight sensation and further expanded Pokémon’s already massive audience. The game is still extremely popular and paved the way for later mobile releases such as Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Masters EX. The franchise has also experimented with creative lifestyle applications such as “Pokémon Sleep.” Additionally, Pokémon’s animation realm has grown to include feel-good slice-of-life shows like Pokémon Conciergé and Monpoké, both of which deviate from the action-adventure-focused mainline series.According to Ishihara, his company’s ability to be creatively diverse is related to the fact that it is privately owned. Therefore, its employees have the liberty to embrace new concepts and create new characters without the fear of answering to shareholders. “Pokémon is the only thing we do at The Pokémon Company, so whatever profit we make gets reinvested into Pokémon,” he stated. Furthermore, he believes that Pokémon’s continued success relies upon a single-minded focus on its primary mission, which is to connect the “real and virtual worlds. “…If we become complacent and go with the flow, that’s when Pokémon will go downhill,” he added.Pokémon is declaring 2025 the Year of Eevee and is partnering with eBay for curated auctions based on the evolutionary ‘mon leading up to Pokémon Day.Pokémon Presents 2025, which premiered on Feb. 27, updated fans on the exciting lineup that Ishihara’s company has planned for the year. In addition to a brand-new gameplay trailer for Pokémon Legends Z-A, a new mobile/console title called Pokémon Champions was also revealed during the event. The Pokémon Company, just one year shy of its 30th anniversary, is likely cooking up something special for fans to commemorate the occasion. While Ishihara did not address any specific plans, he did reiterate his desire to connect the “real and virtual worlds” of the Pokémon series. “If we continue focusing on our mission, Pokémon can probably continue to its 50th or 100th anniversary,” he stated.Source: BBC NewsWe want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.Your comment has not been savedI think they went downhill when they quit caring about the reasons pokemon became the phenomenon it has, and started only caring about the money!I think he’s getting ahead of himself with the 100th anniversary thing.While I am still a massive Pokémon fan. I will say that ever since Disney took over in the US, sun and moon/ alola. My interest has dwindled. the design and animation of the show has dropped off and the newer Pokémon usually look ridiculous. X&Y was the last gen I truly enjoyed in every aspect. Why I’ve been so excited about legends Z/A and I’m very excited for the new battle mechanics. Sun and Moon was actually good, though. Outright better than XY. Especially in regards to the anime.Pokemon’s been in decline for a while now. X&Y was a great way to get older players back into the game, and the anime, but they did nothing with that influx of numbers, instead the anime got a visual downgrade, and the games stayed the same…Not to mention they pissed off all of those older fans with the Palworld lawsuit stunt. They seem utterly incapable of generating any good will…looking forward to more Pokemon lore The tv series went downhill after johto season, Then started getting rid of misty, brock introduced piplup who annoyed the hell out of people in the series with its jelousy, and people were getting fed up. Then they changed the way ash looked and got rid of him and series just got even worse every other character seemed to be able to catch all the legendarys. I liked the idea of mewtwo having the ability to talk but now pretty much everyone of them can talk now, and as for the games I never did like the idea of only able to get mew or whoever through mystery gift and pretty much still hasn’t changed today and pogo has just ruined it even more adding regionals making it impossible for players to complete until a big event and even then still have to pay for most of them and making all legendary ones weak. All the games need refreshing add the excitement back instead of repeatedly doing same thing every game but that’s just my opinion Where can I get a nidothing costume I hate to be that guy, but aside from the great work being done with Horizons and the Adventures manga, the Pokémon franchise has already gone downhill. Kallo Lol. Sun and Moon was actually a high point.Nah, it’s always been up and down between generations, and it probably never get another low point quite like Sun and Moon.I love all the Pokemon and even nidothing that’s a character in horizons. The way she speak would be sooo good .Pokemon will go downhill if they *can’t think of the new Pokemania like Pokemon GO.Look, it’s sells, but but it doesn’t have that Mario brand power either. Just look at all the spinoffs, prior mobile games, it gotten verses Mario Kart, Party, Sports, etc. Pokken and it’s DX sold laughingly worse than NASB1 and it’s supposed to be Tekken (in name) but Pokemon, that should have put it second to Smash or Mortal Kombat.It went downhill for me when my parents sold about 4 million dollars worth of 1st edition mint holos I collected as a kid at a yard sale while I was away at college. Gotta love people ruining your future for a few dollars.I’m 32 and been a fan since I got my Gameboy color with Pokemon blue. I loved Pokemon horizons, I was hooked on every episode. Pokemon origins too. The one I liked the least was alola with sun and moon, but I’m excited to see what the next generation with legends brings. Kalos region was the bestpokemon can make a century but if they comeback ash.People saying it’s downhill are crazy. It’s demonstratably better than ever. The cards fly off the shelves. As do a huge variety of toys, stuffies, books, and collectibles. Walk any public space during a GO event, and it’s clear how huge that game is nearly ten years in. It’s popularity may wane individually as people age but as a dad I can tell you from my kid, his classmates, and my friends kids, that the love for everything pokemon is still very strong>As do a huge variety of toys, stuffies, books, and collectibles. They had those things during super worse years like late Gen 2 to the end of Gen 3, Gen 5, & Gen 7.only reason they’re doing fine right now because they didn’t have another separate handheld to coast on but finally came to consoles+ not doing forced brand synergy like the PGO renake of Kanto.There’s no PGO hype like it’s heyday, so it’s going back down to its usual levels prior between Gen 6-7. Unless they announce PGO2, and it’s sparks another mania, will see what happens.They may want to get a hold of pokemon go, and make sure they have control of that product. That is the future of pokemon. Pokémon Concierge, previously a Netflix-exclusive series, is now officially available on another streaming service for free for a limited time.The mecha genre is known for the “kill ’em all” trope, with several of these anime having half or almost all of the cast killed off by the end.The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 director Akinori Fudesaka describes the emotional process of turning a hit light novel series into a successful anime.Jinwoo Sung is powerful, but some anime necromancers—even gods—can counter his Shadows and defeat him with overwhelming undead forces or sheer skill.New-gen anime like Frieren and Dandadan have been so incredible that they don’t even have any bad episodes to speak of.Solo Leveling’s anime finale for Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- receives a disappointing update on its upcoming Crunchyroll release.

Source: https://www.cbr.com/pokemon-president-future-anniversary-tease/