Pokémon COO wants to keep the franchise "alive for hundreds of years"
Takato Utsunomiya, COO of The Pokémon Company, has stated that he hopes the Pokémon series outlives all of us, continuing for hundreds of years into the future with innovations.
The details:
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Utsunomiya was asked about his role at the company, and he responded that he spends "all day every day thinking about Pokémon," but that the overall goal is to "keep Pokémon alive for hundreds of years - making sure it survives well past our lifetimes."
The COO also discussed the importance of attracting newer generations of fans rather than simply satisfying existing ones by keeping games, TV shows, and other media fresh. “It’s easy to just focus on adults. They have a lot of disposable income, you can see their reactions in real-time on social media,” he said. “But we need to ensure we are still keeping the younger kids interested. Kids are very honest – they won’t play something they don’t like. If your brand feels old or boring, they will immediately dismiss it.”
The company is planning new features for future titles, such as making Pokémon in the games feel more alive by making them act more like wild animals rather than just characters for the player to collect. "In the original games, there's quite a gap between the descriptions in the Pokédex and what you actually saw in the game," Utsunomiya explained. “But starting with Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet, you see Bidoof creating dens in the game, and you have Pokémon traveling in packs. So there’s a newfound realism of their setting. When it comes to delivering the descriptions seen in the original Pokédex… there’s a lot more we can do there.”
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