The company's Cammie Dunaway, who was once classified as a Mudkip Pokemon, also fielded our questions about where Nintendo's franchise will go after "Pokemon Platinum": To consoles? To an MMO? To "Pokemon Banana"?
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As the latest "Pokemon" game is released in the United States, the hope at Nintendo is that Pokemon has little in common with Lara Croft and Tony Hawk.
Nintendo's "Pokemon Platinum" is the latest in the dozens of "Pokemon"-branded games which have collectively sold more than 186 million copies, according to the gaming giant, since the series' debut in the mid-90s.
That makes it one of the most popular franchises in gaming history but also one of the few long-running series that hasn't hit the stumbles which have ultimately forced series like "Tomb Raider" and "Tony Hawk Pro Skater." Those once-might series have struggled to retain popularity, altering release patterns, switching developers, and rebooting at least once each.
What will make "Pokemon" any different?
"That [Pokemon type] is sweet but a little lazy," she said. "I didn't think that sounded like me!"
"The reason ['Pokemon"] stays so vibrant is because new groups of kids are always discovering it," Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Nintendo of America told MTV Multiplayer during an interview at MTV's New York City headquarters last Friday. Echoing the words of the longtime "Pokemon" developer Junichi Masuda, she said: "Kids are really able to relate to this world and control and have fun in and feel like it's their world. "
Nintendo can cite 2.94 million copies sold of "Platinum" since its release in Japan in September last year as one sign of the series' enduring appeal. Fans might cite their own delight with the over 490 Pokemon created in the series.
The numbers are massive, but so too must be the risks that such success can't last. I pressed Dunaway on why the series hasn't Pokemon withered like Tony Hawk and Tomb Raider. "I think one thing would be that the development team is coming up with new ways to keep it fresh all the time. For example, in 'Pokemon Platinum' we now have a feature where you can record your battles in videos and share those with other people. That's something that certainly didn't exist 10 years ago. So, constantly refreshing the franchise [is key]." Another example she cited is "Platinum"'s expansion of the series' online trading store. The new features make the difference, she said.
New features are welcome, but surely the makers and managers of "Tomb Raider" and Tony Hawk" must have thought they were following the same strategy as the "Pokemon" people. Said Dunaway: "I can't comment on how they manage their franchises, but I can tell you that the Pokemon Company [a Nintendo-backed licensing group] manages the Pokemon franchise very, very carefully, to make sure that the brand equity is consistent and is at the highest quality. So the way we represent Pokemon in advertisements, plush figures, t-shirts... making sure that the quality is there and that there's not such an over-saturation that people get tired of it."
Nintendo wants to avoid franchise fatigue, but utilizes no simple formula to fend it off. There's no quota, for example, of a maximum number of "Pokemon" games that will be released in a given year.
Instead, Dunaway said there is at least a recognition that different "Pokemon" games can target different audiences. The "Pokemon Ranger" series, for example, is aimed at kids as you as five-year olds -- kids to whom the core gameplay of using the DS stylus to draw circles around and trap Pokemon is easily enjoyed. The main "Pokemon" series are pushed to kids just older than that. The sweet spot of "Pokemon Platinum" is gamers aged 10-12."
Nintendo has noticed that gamers who played Pokemon as kids aren't all eager to give the series up. "There are a lot of 20-somethings that still enjoy a game of 'Pokemon,'" she said. The company expects that some of the first "Pokemon" players will soon literally create some new fans. "I'm sure a lot of your readers grew up playing 'Pokemon.' Pretty soon they'll be seeing their kids play 'Pokemon.'"
As the series persists there are some obvious directions fans have been wondering about. One is a move toward a bona fide "Pokemon" game for the home console, a format that has yet to generate a "Pokemon" hit on the scale of any of the main "Pokemon" handheld games. "It definitely has a place on the console," Dunaway said, citing recent success with the "Pokemon" WiiWare game "My Pokemon Ranch." "I think there is an opportunity to offer them on both [handheld and console] and let consumers choose which one they want to spend more time on."
"I certainly think [a Pokemon MMO] would work."
And what of the long-asked-for "Pokemon" massively multiplayer online game? That question elicited a resounding laugh from Dunaway. "I certainly think it would work, but I don't know if we're planning on doing it," she said. When it was pointed out that she probably does know, she replied, laughing: "I don't know! You'll have to ask Mr. Masuda." (After my interview with Dunaway was complete, website WhatTheyPlay published an interview with Masuda, in which the "Pokemon" director said that his team is "not thinking of going in that direction.")
Dunaway doesn't play a lot of "Pokemon" herself. She said she tried one of the "Pokemon Mystrery Dungeon"s and the game identified her as a Mudkip Pokemon. "That [type] is sweet but a little lazy," she said. "I didn't think that sounded like me!" She decided she'd leave the Pokemon playing in her house to her son, who is a rabid fan.
Dunaway's son submits all sorts of ideas and sketches for future "Pokemon" creatures through his mom, back to Nintendo. The company is, doubtless, full of ideas already. But one that may hard to dream up is, simply, the next "Pokemon" game's name.
How do you top something called "Platinum"?
Years removed from "Pokemon Red" and "Pokemon Blue," Nintendo has now also released "Pokemon" games with 'Diamond," "Pearl" and "Platinum" in the title. That won't be the end of it. "A franchise that's been out there since 1998 [in the U.S.] and has sold 186 million copies, nobody's going to stop any time soon," Dunaway said. "There will be some way to top 'Platinum' down the road at some point, I'm sure."
I suggested switching from minerals to food.
"Banana?" Dunaway joked.
"Grape?"
Whatever it is, it'll sell.
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