The Immortal Pikachu: The Pokémon Company Case Study

The Richest Rat in The World

The richest fictional character in the world is not a mouse, it is a yellow rat. Pikachu with it’s electric cheeks along with all of its friends ranked as the top-grossing media franchises surpassing Hello Kitty, Star Wars and Mickey Mouse. Pokémon is cashing in around 90 billion dollars of total revenue as of 2019 (Maher, 2019). It’s been 25 years since the characters arrived in black-and-white pixel games in Japan in 1996. Pokémon managed to keep their relevancy and hypnotize users to their growing universe until today (Batchelor, 2021). Now, Pokémon is a growing international franchise with more than 807 characters with expanding anime episodes, featured movies, trading cards, official stores and uncountable action figures, soft toys, comic books and merchandising (Godfrey, 2019).

The Creation of Pocket Monsters

Satoshi Tajiri was a writer in a gaming magazine with his friend, Ken Sugimori when he decided that he wanted to start making games instead of writing about it. Together, they created GameFreak, a gaming company where they started to take up making games professionally. After sometime making moderate success with their games, Satoshi came into an idea that would change the gaming world forever. Catching insects was one of his fondest memories. That part of his childhood of exploration inspired him to make a game that invited kids to explore an imaginary wilderness to hunt and collect various small creatures. The idea was simple, to give kids the thrill that he used to feel from exploring. Satoshi then decided to bring his ideas to reality by creating a game collecting small little monsters where children can have access to these pocket monsters anytime and so, Pokémon was born. With huge trust and passion for their game, Satoshi and Ken brought Pokémon to Nintendo in 1990 for a pitch (BBC, 2021).

Nintendo was not as excited about these Pokémon as Satoshi and Ken were but they agreed to release it. It took GameFreak 6 years to complete the game. During these times, Satoshi put everything the company got into this game and money was getting tight. His team broke apart during this hard time. Satoshi lived off his father, unpaid despite putting all his time into developing the first Pokémon games that Nintendo half-heartedly supported. Initially, Pokémon was created to be played with Nintendo’s newest technology, GameBoy. By the time Satoshi was done with the game in 1996, GameBoy had lost its momentum globally and Satoshi was left in fear that his monsters would not see the light of day.?Nintendo launched it anyway, hoping for nothing much from these little pocket monsters. But the little pocket monsters showed how much they can carry. Despite the game technology being a bit behind, Japanese boys came running to these affordable games as the flashier games were a bit out of reach. Pokémon got into every Japanese boys’ pockets and attracted the attention of Kubo, a publishing company. Riding the hype of these digital monsters, Kubo came out with Pokémon comic books and trading cards. Since then all 151 Pokémon carried the hearts of Japanese children on their backs and ran with it (Peckham, 2016).

From Small Pocket to The World

After their launch in 1996,?Pokémon Red?and?Pokémon Green, the first set of game versions, gained national success in Japan. Satoshi inputted a special character to the game, Mew, for users to find in limited 20 sets of the game (Epps, 2019). This strategy was proven to light up Pokémon game sales to an astonishing rate. As the hype rose, the company published the next version of the game,?Pokémon Blue?right after to ride on the momentum (Pokémon Community, 2021). The new games indulged the gamers with significantly better graphic and sound quality. At this point, Pokémon have gained their own following and fans that encouraged Media Factory, a publishing company from Japan, to create Pokémon trading cards that right away became very popular.

The characters found their own life and came to travel further in everybody’s mind through anime series. Pokémon travelled to the US in 1998 and the UK the year after. Pokémon's first anime series gained slots in US TV stations (Pokémon Official, 2019). Just like Japan, the US was captivated. It did not take long for the market to realize that Pokémon have their place in anyone’s heart. The company was quick on their toes and followed the anime launched right away with Pokémon trading cards launch. One year after they came to the market, Nintendo successfully claimed to earn 5 billion dollars in the US alone, the same equivalent of that entire year of the US gaming industry (Alt, 2020). Everyone was hooked and could not take their eyes off anything Pokémon. The euphoria around them got so intense amongst children at the time, schools were forced to ban them around their area (Zorn, 1999).

Establishment of The Pokémon Company

After this success, Pokémon Center Co, Ltd was established in Nihonbashi, Tokyo as a joint venture between all three companies behind the game and characters; Game Freak, Creatures, and Nintendo. Initially, the company was established to support the start of their own offline merchandising store business with the establishment of the first Pokémon Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo (The Pokémon Company, 2021). After Nintendo’s success of distributing the game, Pokémon popularity brought further massive growth to Game Freak, Creatures and Nintendo. The pocket monsters got more incoming international merchandising queries. Tsenekazu Ishihara, part of Creatures, was the only person in the team that could go through the many proposals. He saw how the files piled up more than he could handle. On the other side, Ishihara knew Pokémon needed more to be developed by continuing to add more series, movies and game titles. It became clear for him that Pokémon have to have their own entity to be able to accommodate merchandising and further development.?

In June 2000, Satoru Iwata came to lead Nintendo with the first task to establish Pokémon’s very own Company. The Pokémon Company was then established in 2000, solely to handle further expansion of the brand and characters (Iwata, Marimoto, & Ishihara, 2010). Since then, The Pokémon Company expanded internationally by establishing entities in the US, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai to manage the licensing and international business of the respective areas.

The Pokémon Company is owned by all three of Game Freak, Creatures and Nintendo. Almost all products related to Pokémon are copyrighted to all three of their owners. In 2001, 4Kids Entertainment acquired 3% of The Pokémon Company, in the effort to ride along the Pokémon trend and get access to Pokémon merchandise licensing and content. However, in 2005, 4Kids Entertainment sold back its 3% to the three parties, Game Freak, Creatures, and Nintendo (KCSA Public Relation Worldwide, 2001). Today, each of the companies contribute to Pokémon differently. Game Freaks remains as the main developer of all Pokémon games while Creatures help produce the games. Nintendo acts as the main distributor of the games and Creatures are becoming more involved in creating the trading cards games. All three remain to own the rights to the characters as well as the game and equal parts of The Pokémon Company (Hilliard, 2017).

Making the Money

Pushing the Game Boundaries

Pokémon always try to push the boundaries and go beyond their time. The first Pokémon games,?Pokémon Red?and?Pokémon Green?implemented role-playing that was much different than its successor,?Mario Bros. Despite the game being launched on an older Game Boy version at the time, the fact that it required less technology with unique gameplay made Pokémon the talk of the town. As reported on Time magazine, the fans of the game described Pokémon as “a multimedia and interactive barrage like no other before it.” (Chua-Eoan & Larimer, 1999).

Every Pokémon game version launched always gave more than expected. The game brought the main character through an adventure of finding various small monsters that they can collect, battle and trade with each other. The game prioritization is to include all kids in their own adventure which is why in 2000, they introduced the first playable female character in the game, Kris (RITABUUK & DUBIOUSDISC, 2019). This brought many more girls into the games. Every version of the game also introduced new characters to hunt and collect, through different new regions to explore. The easy game scheme made it very easy for kids and adults to get hooked into the game.

The Pokémon Company can be called one of the innovators in gaming. They always try to push further on what they can do with the gaming platform at the time to provide a bigger experience to the users. As the game hit mobile apps, they launched?Pokémon Go. Supported by Niantic,?Pokémon Go?combined augmented reality, Pokémon classic game scenario of adventure and hunting along with location tracking to help bring hunting Pokémon into the real world. This form of games is unseen before, especially with characters as big as Pokémon. The nostalgia of hunting the little monster hits hard and helps to blow up the apps. The game has succeeded in bringing in 1.2 billion dollars in user spending along with 100 million downloads. These numbers ranked them third in the list of the top-grossing mobile games behind their big contender,?PUBG?and?Honor of King?(Potuck, 2021) which also help deliver the loyal Pokémon gamers into the world of mobile gaming (Etsch, 2016).

Trading Cards

Aside from the game, Pokémon is also largely known for their trading cards. Pokémon trading cards listed the power of each Pokémon creature while featuring illustrations of the monsters that gave off the same drive for collecting as the games do. Pokémon trading cards can also be played in a duel, just like in the game. Pokémon Card Tournaments is a worldwide championship, gathering players all over the world to battle their card collection. In 2018, Pokémon World Championship was held in Washington, DC and players were invited based on invitation for winning the respective countries' battle to win a total of 500,000 dollars in prize money and scholarships (Pokémon Official, 2019).

The trading cards launch alongside the games, which will also be updated with new characters each season. The launches of the new set of trading cards always bring a big turn-out to the market especially during the last pandemic. With the limited supply and high demand, Pokémon cards are sought out more than ever, driving second-hand marketplaces to bring the price very high. One set of Pokémon cards retailed for around 30 dollars. Just like in the game, one rare Pokémon card can be sold for 10 times more than the value of the entire set or even higher (Gault, 2021).

In the 2021 launch, Walmart and Target decided to pull the sales of Pokémon cards in their stores for safety reasons as people were lining up, pushing through the aisle of the stores and even breaking into a full-on fight over the cards. Target was even reported to be considering calling the cops for fans that were willing to camp out in front of the store to stop the possible fights amongst the fans and the store employees (Kay, 2021). With the cards selling so well, The Pokémon Company was forced to put all their production to full capacity in response to the high demands and promised many distributors to support them in restock as soon as possible to ease down the increasing chaos surrounding the availability of the cards (Lyles, 2021).

Movies & Series

With big characters come big stories. Since he was “born”, Pikachu has starred in 21 animated movies, 1 live-action movie, countless anime shows and shorts (Jungleguts, 2019). In 1997, Pikachu started his animation adventure in Japan on TX Network. As they became more popular, the animation then syndicated to the rest of Japan’s major television including private satellite and cable networks. Not long after, Pikachu knocked out the US television by premiering in 111 TV broadcasting channels (The Pokémon Company, 2021). Pokémon animation is iconic and still very much loved by many, and Netflix seems to agree. In 2020, Netflix signed an exclusive agreement with The Pokémon Company International to be the sole streamer and home to future Pokémon animation series, starting with the 23rd season of the show,?Pokémon Journeys?(Porter, 2020). As with their other product line, Pokémon game and the series are meant to align as part of the game marketing strategies (Bailey, 2016). The relationship between the animation series and the games leverages many benefits for all sides of the trades. After the agreement with Netflix,?Pokémon Go?launch brings many viewers to Netflix to continue the adventure. During the game release, Pokémon series became one of the most watched series on Netflix in many countries where the title is available (Kharpal, 2016).

The first and the only live-action movie featuring Pikachu to date is?Detective Pikachu. The game was adapted from 2016’s version of the Pokémon Nintendo DS game with the same title. Within the movie, Pikachu has finally found his voice in the comedic tone of Ryan Reynolds. Pikachu’s new fur and 3D version supported by Ryan Reynold’s hilarious dialogue that brings?Detective Pikachu?to the top of blockbusters. The live action movie became one of the top grossing game-adaptation films of all time, cashing in 436 million dollars far above?Warcraft?and?Prince of Persia?(Statt, 2019).

Pikachu and Friends

During the development of the anime series, the company further saw the appeal of Pikachu, one of the lead Pokémon of the main character, Ash Ketchum. Unlike any other Pokémon, Pikachu was plotted in the anime to roam around in adventure following Ketchum. His round cheeks and body were easy to love and focus on. Above all, Pikachu was selected to be highlighted for his potential to appeal to both girls and boys. The decision proved to lift up the yellow rat and the entire Pokémon franchise. Pikachu’s cute speeches and his bravery in the anime make him one of the most popular characters of all time. The company launched a special Pikachu game series,?Let’s Go, Pikachu?which became a top hit. Pikachu rises above Nintendo’s other important characters. Since then, Pikachu fronted all communication from The Pokémon Company ever and became one of the most top-selling characters licensed by the company (Minotti, 2016).

Pikachu and his friends are The Pokémon Company’s “money-maker” and he is unstoppable. Everything about Pikachu is appealing. His monster grin is on stationeries, home goods, apparel, and even the balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Pikachu and his Pokémon friends’ appearances in many services and products are proven to have their own leverage. Pokémon worked with many markets, each working on specific products that are viewed to be successful on their respective market. Mondelez International worked alongside The Pokémon Company and rolled out special Pokémon edition Oreos in the USA. The sales created a hype on social media to the point where one piece of the biscuit branded with one of the rare Pokémon, Mew was sold on eBay for up to 30,000 dollars (Pesce, 2021). Pikachu was also the first anime character that collaborated with the Singapore Police to front their crime prevention campaign (The Pokémon Company, 2021).

Offline Stores

Pokémon characters are as real as they can be in Pokémon Center. Pokémon Center located all around the world from all around in Japan and Singapore including time limited pop-up stores in London, New York and Paris. The stores sold exclusive Pokémon merchandise, including the plush toys of almost all of their hundreds of characters. As The Pokémon Company customize their marketing strategy, they also do the same with their Pokémon Center. Each store is treated differently, customized to the country or region that they are in. The cute Pikachu can be found in different national outfits in each store, wearing a top hat in the London store and a kimono in Tokyo stores. Exclusivity and variety of merchandise are proven to be the selling point of the center. In 2019, Pokémon Center pop-up in London opened with fans lining up since the dawn of day making the line-up so long, they are surrounding the building (Brown, 2019).

The Pokémon Center in Tokyo is decorated with many Pokémon statues and is the heaven of many Pokémon fans. In Japan, Pokémon are one of the crown jewels of Japanese tourism. The Pokémon Company brings more of the Pokémon experience and builds the first official Pokémon Café right in the center of the biggest Japan store (Schultz, 2018). The attraction features Pikachu live appearances in the café, greeting visitors who come dressed up as either the waitress or the chef. Pokémon fans all around the world are coming to Japan just for these Pokémon experiences. Japan’s acknowledgement to Pokémon's important roles in tourism are settled in by awarding some of the Pokémon to be their official mascots in many of their prefectures (Japan National Tourism Organization, 2019).

Staying Relevant

One of the most iconic Pokémon scenes is where Ash, the main male character, can hear Pikachu's heart, telling him that he will never leave Ash behind and will always want to remember him in his tiny yellow heart. That scene has since engraved in every fan's heart as well. Pokémon has been around for many years and still thriving. People that grow up watching them have fully grown into an adult or even parent themselves. Pokémon are always successful in bringing nostalgia into their products, reminding us just like Ash, how Pikachu will never leave us behind. The Pokémon Company are seeing the opportunity on how to gain more from the new generation by getting the parents to introduce their kids to the loyal Pikachu and friends.

It is important for the company that the characters and brand are known to have a positive impact for all generations by leveraging healthy living. The Pokémon Company are launching mobile games that are geared for younger kids to get familiar with the characters. The Pokémon Company launched?Pokémon Smile; an AR game designed to encourage kids to brush their teeth by showing the characters rescuing another Pokémon from the bacteria in the mouth (Gartenberg, 2020).?Pokémon Playhouse?was released in 2017, geared for kids ages 3 – 5 years old. The apps feature the Pokémon characters as pets instead of monsters to catch. Making the game easier to understand by kids under 5 while also getting them familiar with the sight of these unique pocket monsters (Perez, 2017). For older kids, The Pokémon Company also launched?Pokémon: Let’s Go, a new series of the game featuring the Pokémon classic adventure with an additional re-introduction of the fun of the game to the new generation (Webster, 2018).

Pokémon fans are amongst the most loyal and influential people. The Pokémon Company's continuous innovation in their games, series, film and products are proven to also keep bringing more for the fan, even enough to make them keep talking and buying more from the franchise. It’s been 25 years for Pikachu and friends and more to come.

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