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[Banjo64]

The fact that Pokemon is $200b ahead of second place and no other franchise in this list of juggernauts has even exceeded $100b never fails to amaze me.

Pokemon was my primary school phenomenon and I love it to this day, it still doesn't sink in that it still completely obliterates any modern day equivalent like Minecraft or Fortnite.

 

[KimDongHwan]

I am surprised about Yu-Gi-Oh, didn't know it was still popular to that level

 

[AJUMP23]

Pixar having 2 on that list is impressive.

Japan makes a lot of money.

 

[jason10mm]

The fact that Pokemon is $200b ahead of second place and no other franchise in this list of juggernauts has even exceeded $100b never fails to amaze me.

Pokemon was my primary school phenomenon and I love it to this day, it still doesn't sink in that it still completely obliterates any modern day equivalent like Minecraft or Fortnite.

I'm still amazed at how relatively invisible pokemon is. I don't feel like it has nearly the presence of stuff like Star Wars or Star Trek. But I guess it is always there, insidious, no matter where you look.

 

[Banjo64]

I'm still amazed at how relatively invisible pokemon is. I don't feel like it has nearly the presence of stuff like Star Wars or Star Trek. But I guess it is always there, insidious, no matter where you look.

It's probably anecdotal but it's the complete opposite for me. Got young kids myself and Pokemon is still highly relevant on YouTube, Netflix, iPlayer, Prime etc and they've both already gotten in to the cards and video games. Star Wars is practically an antique in comparison and I say that as a fan. The cultural relevancy of things like Star Wars and Star Trek seems to be less than Lord of the Rings (deservedly so) and even to be honest things like Pirates of the Caribbean which will continue to age gracefully as long as Disney don't fuck it.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Hello Kitty and Winnie the Pooh being #2 and #3 is surprising. They're both ubiquitous, but I guess I don't run into them much because their movie and game presence doesn't really cross my path. Gotta be the physical merch making up the bulk of their revenue.

Never even heard of Anpanman.

 

[DKehoe]

It's probably anecdotal but it's the complete opposite for me. Got young kids myself and Pokemon is still highly relevant on YouTube, Netflix, iPlayer, Prime etc and they've both already gotten in to the cards and video games. Star Wars is practically an antique in comparison and I say that as a fan. The cultural relevancy of things like Star Wars and Star Trek seems to be less than Lord of the Rings (deservedly so) and even to be honest things like Pirates of the Caribbean which will continue to age gracefully as long as Disney don't fuck it.

Yeh Pokemon is still surprisingly big. I know a few kids who got Pokemon cards, games, clothing etc. for Christmas. Its staying power is especially impressive since it's never really gone away, they're always churning out those games and cards. So it's not like there's been some big relaunch or reboot to make it more relevant to kids today.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I'm still amazed at how relatively invisible pokemon is. I don't feel like it has nearly the presence of stuff like Star Wars or Star Trek. But I guess it is always there, insidious, no matter where you look.

There's nothing invisible about it but I'm guessing you don't have kids...

 

[jason10mm]

There's nothing invisible about it but I'm guessing you don't have kids...

I do have kids, and a wife that obsessively hoar....err, I mean collects cards. But is pokemon FOUR TIMES as present as Star Wars? I just don't see it. I realize there are lots of games and probably lots of cartoons, but the cards seem to be either throw away birthday gifts or aggregated into the hands of a sweaty group of card collectors.

 

[Poppinfresh]

What exactly is being counted here, because I can't believe that Barbie would be that low if individual toy sales are being counted. I mean, the first Barbie came out in the late 1950s.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I do have kids, and a wife that obsessively hoar....err, I mean collects cards. But is pokemon FOUR TIMES as present as Star Wars? I just don't see it. I realize there are lots of games and probably lots of cartoons, but the cards seem to be either throw away birthday gifts or aggregated into the hands of a sweaty group of card collectors.

Oh alright, I see the issue. You are correlating lifetime profits with "presence" and I'm not sure that's a good way to think about it

The Pokemon TCG is a small fraction of Pokemon profits. Even the annual Nintendo video games are only like 25% of Pokemon profits. The mobile games are a nice and rapidly growing chunk, as are the TV shows and movies which have performed well for decades. But the lion's share of Pokemon profits is merchandising, like around 65-70%. And that's untouched by any other franchise on Earth. Think of every Pikachu plush, every T-shirt, every toy you can imagine. That's where Pokemon's real money is made



The Pokemon Company is basically everything that isn't the video games

 

[The_hunter]

Half of them are from Japan, dang.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Oh alright, I see the issue. You are correlating lifetime profits with "presence" and I'm not sure that's a good way to think about it

The Pokemon TCG is a small fraction of Pokemon profits. Even the annual Nintendo video games are only like 25% of Pokemon profits. The mobile games are a nice and rapidly growing chunk, as are the TV shows and movies which have performed well for decades. But the lion's share of Pokemon profits is merchandising, like around 65-70%. And that's untouched by any other franchise on Earth. Think of every Pikachu plush, every T-shirt, every toy you can imagine. That's where Pokemon's real money is made



The Pokemon Company is basically everything that isn't the video games

Weird tweet comparing retail sales of one product to a company's net sales of different products. And it's not even comparing the same year.

That would be like comparing retail sales dollars of potato chips in 2024, and saying it's higher than the wholesale price of their pretzels and cheesies after all discounts combined in 2025.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I do have kids, and a wife that obsessively hoar....err, I mean collects cards. But is pokemon FOUR TIMES as present as Star Wars? I just don't see it. I realize there are lots of games and probably lots of cartoons, but the cards seem to be either throw away birthday gifts or aggregated into the hands of a sweaty group of card collectors.

Pokemon is actually even bigger in the grand scheme of things.

Anecdotal samples from me, but the times I go to board game stores to buy a game, they always have tables of people chatting and playing games or prepping for a tournament. People sitting around and one of the store clerks is shouting out names and table numbers. And tourneys always seem to be Pokemon from what I've seen. Never even MtG which I thought was popular(?) or any other game.

So whatever those media franchises generate in sales, it's actually even better for stores because those people will sit around maybe buy other games, but also some snacks and drinks from the store. Some of the stores even have an hourly fee to sit there and play games (although I dont know if those Pokemon tourneys charge a fee to join, or if you bring your own games). I dont think Star Wars has that kind of adjacent revenue generating options.