Daily Gaming Network: pokemon

I just came across this incredibly interesting and in-depth article written by Seb Parker over at VGChartz about the sales history of the Pokemon series. Its very good stuff and very long, Just how we like it ay? No? Okay I'll shut up. Enjoy!

Seb Parker of VGChartz:
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/87067/pokemon-a-sales-history/

A Brief History

I'll come right out and say it, Pokemon is the most successful videogame franchise of all time, in my opinion. Sure, it's second to Mario in terms of units sold, but Pokemon has done what very few franchises have managed, and that's be successful in a host of other fields, be it TV, collectable card game, and movies. Still, the legendary handheld games came first, and although the movies, the TV shows and the trading cards have long since peaked, the latest iteration of Pokemon - Black & White - has proven the series is still on top, scoring the highest first week sales for any Pokemon game. 15 years since its birth and Pokemon is more than alive and kicking; it's eternal.

Sales Overview - Main Generations

Blue, Red and the Japanese exclusive Green, along with the later enhanced Yellow edition propelled the Pokemon franchise to incredible heights, despite having no previous fanbase. The games from Generation 1 sit above a staggering 46 million. This was always going to be a tough figure for the second generation games to topple, and so sales dipped to 29.4 million, over 16 million less. Despite the enhanced edition being less than 30% in any given generation, Crystal almost sold fewer units compared to Yellow, than Silver/Gold did against Blue/Red/Green. This is likely due to the fact Pikachu was the focus; the poster Pokemon of the franchise really pushed sales of Yellow, wheras Crystal didn't share the same system selling Pokemon. Generation three, which included Ruby and Sapphire, saw a a similar albeit smaller drop, but Emerald actually stayed flat compared to Crystal.

Whilst sales at this point are still very impressive, relative to earlier games it looks like Pokemon is on the decline. Thankfully, due to the DS's massive popularity, sales in generation 4 grew for both the main games and the enhanced version, reaching just over 25 million. Fast forward to the present day and Black & White debuts to the highest ever debut for a Pokemon game. Sales should surpass Ruby/Sapphire and stand a good chance against Diamond/Pearl. The yet-to-be-unveiled enhanced version for Black & White could substantially boost sales for Generation 5 depending on what route Nintendo decides to take. Already dubbed Pokemon Grey/Gray, appearing on DS and the 3DS would be a very good move; the DS has a big Pokemon fanbase to sell too, and the 3DS could boast better visuals and enhanced gameplay. Pokemon Grey/Gray for the 3DS could sell better than any enhanced version since Pokemon Yellow.

Which Region Loves Pokemon Best?

The chart above conveys just how much Pokemon is loved the world over, since it doesn't dominate in any one region. That said, it's important to note Japan's population is significantly smaller than the Americas and EMEAA. Despite Americas being over 10 million units ahead, Japan is clearly the nation that holds Pokemon closest to its heart. Globally the main generation Pokemon games sit at over 137 million units.

Other Games in the Pokemon Universe

Over the years Pokemon has shown its diversity through console games like Battle Revolution for Wii, Pokemon Snap for the N64, and the popular Pokemon Stadium games. On handhelds there are games such as Pinball, Pokemon Trading Card Game (never a sequel?!) and a couple of remakes from the popular Generational games. Needless to say they sold the best, with over 10 million units each. Whilst none of the non-generational games (including remakes) hit massive sales, the majority fared well, nearly all selling over 1 million units, and most selling over 2 million units. All in all there are 19 non-generational games, and on top of the 137 million units from the main games, the Pokemon franchise sits at just above 200 million units.

Minecraft is much different from your average game -- it's essentially a sandbox world where you can create anything you want, and there have been some amazing things created from Zelda adventure to a recreation of a Chrono Trigger area to A link to past worlds to Pokemon Kanto enormous holes to Earth... you get the idea. Its business model, too, is unusual; it was developed briefly and then released to the public long before it was finished. It began being sold while it was still in alpha and remains in beta as of today -- it won't be "officially" released until this November, more than two years after it first became available.

Developer Mojang's next game, Scrolls, differs from Minecraft both in theme (it's a card/board game hybrid) and in that it's being developed by five people, not almost entirely by one. The way it's rolled out to the public, however, will be very similar.

"With our new game, Scrolls, we'll follow the same formula as Minecraft," Mojang's Daniel Kaplan told Gamasutra at Gamelab 2011. "That means we'll release the game very early," as soon as it's playable in some capacity.

Like Minecraft, it'll be sold even in this very early stage of development. That's not something many other developers would be willing to do. It's unquestionably a model that has brought a great deal of success to Mojang -- more than 2.6 million people have bought Minecraft at one of its various price points (it was offered at a larger discount during alpha and remains 25% off the final price during the ongoing beta), and more than 8,000 purchases have been made in the past 24 hours alone.

Scrolls was announced earlier this year. Very little is known, and the only details and concept art comes from a brief description offered up on its official website. No release date has been announced.