jigglet
Banned
You could argue Pokemon could still be bigger and better in other developers' hands, but this post isn't really about the quality of today's games and all the lost potential. My theory is I think if Gamefreak were a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo, it would never have happened in the first place. The "pie" wouldn't even exist.
I remember Pokemon came out right after Yamauchi famously said RPG's are for basement dwelling losers. Is it the type of game they would have made themselves? I don't think so, personally. If Gamefreak was a fully owned subsidiary, I don't think that's what Nintendo would have chosen to make given the time and resources.
Similarly, the anime, which helped to blow it up in the first place. Nintendo was moving strongly against this type of cross-media thing at the time. Would Nintendo have gone down this path? Again I don't think so.
Then you have the epic success of Pokemon Go. We all know that after dragging their feet, their very best efforts on mobile were still a toe-dip at best. Would they have ventured so strongly into mobile on their own? Would they have been willing to admit they aren't experts in online and given a massive 33% of the joint venture to Niantic to help build it out? Again I don't think so.
People often wonder how much more money Nintendo would have made if they had enough foresight to own all of Pokemon from the get-go, but I don't think it's even valid to speculate, because owning them would mean a timeline where Pokemon never even came into existence.
I remember Pokemon came out right after Yamauchi famously said RPG's are for basement dwelling losers. Is it the type of game they would have made themselves? I don't think so, personally. If Gamefreak was a fully owned subsidiary, I don't think that's what Nintendo would have chosen to make given the time and resources.
Similarly, the anime, which helped to blow it up in the first place. Nintendo was moving strongly against this type of cross-media thing at the time. Would Nintendo have gone down this path? Again I don't think so.
Then you have the epic success of Pokemon Go. We all know that after dragging their feet, their very best efforts on mobile were still a toe-dip at best. Would they have ventured so strongly into mobile on their own? Would they have been willing to admit they aren't experts in online and given a massive 33% of the joint venture to Niantic to help build it out? Again I don't think so.
People often wonder how much more money Nintendo would have made if they had enough foresight to own all of Pokemon from the get-go, but I don't think it's even valid to speculate, because owning them would mean a timeline where Pokemon never even came into existence.
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