Hope for Pokemon Noticing the Older Audience?

[yz2428]

as a franchise, pokemon’s core audience is probably kids and young adults. aside from the TCG, they make a lot on their video games and merchandise lines. maybe merch is the biggest slice of the pie? remember, the secondary market for cards doesn’t really make pokemon any money. i know MTG is starting to focus more on the secondary market with their collector edition boosters, secret lair series, and so forth. as a company that has an accounting book, the important thing is not to dilute the brand and mess with success unless they are sure this pivot can create a positive feedback loop for the entire franchise. as pokemon gets bigger, i’m sure they will look for more ways to capture more of the market, which may include the e4 audience who are a bit older and have slightly different tastes than the core audience currently. i think be patient and enjoy the evolution of pokemon. we are only 25 years in (almost), and the fact that pokemon is big as ever should be the silver lining to this.

[Quuador]

Regarding the anime, in XYZ Ash looked like 14/15 years old, and I thought that season was pretty solid (except for the ending in the finals…).

But you’re right that Ash in the Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield era looks extremely young. Even younger than the very first episode 23 years ago…

[details="<Spoiler if you plan on watching the Sun & Moon era anime!>"]

[/details]
Greetz,
Quuador

[andrewajc]

@papafrankgod

@andrewajc

I think in terms of the TCG, Pokemon will always pay some attention to the older audience because we have the disposable income to spend on the products that they’re trying to sell. But I feel the anime will always be geared towards the younger audience, I grew up with the original and know that I won’t watch the new stuff because things have changed so much. I think so long as there are still things to enjoy with the franchise on the whole, then I’m happy.

But games are also expensive and they are not ment for adults at all. Maybe for a 2 years old kid.

I think video games are different though, there’s usually one main game every what 2-3 years that’s released close to Christmas? Compared to a new TCG set every 3 months.

[rush27]

@yz2428

as a franchise, pokemon’s core audience is probably kids and young adults. aside from the TCG, they make a lot on their video games and merchandise lines. maybe merch is the biggest slice of the pie? remember, the secondary market for cards doesn’t really make pokemon any money. i know MTG is starting to focus more on the secondary market with their collector edition boosters, secret lair series, and so forth. as a company that has an accounting book, the important thing is not to dilute the brand and mess with success unless they are sure this pivot can create a positive feedback loop for the entire franchise. as pokemon gets bigger, i’m sure they will look for more ways to capture more of the market, which may include the e4 audience who are a bit older and have slightly different tastes than the core audience currently. i think be patient and enjoy the evolution of pokemon. we are only 25 years in (almost), and the fact that pokemon is big as ever should be the silver lining to this.

Yeah! I’m very excited about what is to come.

[lamplamp]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but the Pokemon Adventures Manga is a fantastic read that’s definitely geared to an older audience. If you’re going to read it, I’d recommend finding some scans of the Japanese version that’s been translated to English. When the English versions were printed, some of the scenes were censored or changed to be less mature similar to some of the TCG artwork changes.

[rush27]

@lamplamp, I own the Adventures manga through the Gold series. I’m currently reading the Festival of Champions manga and it is absolutely amazing. Would highly recommend! It’s scanned and translated and can be found on mangadex.org

[chrispy]

@papafrankgod

@andrewajc

I think in terms of the TCG, Pokemon will always pay some attention to the older audience because we have the disposable income to spend on the products that they’re trying to sell. But I feel the anime will always be geared towards the younger audience, I grew up with the original and know that I won’t watch the new stuff because things have changed so much. I think so long as there are still things to enjoy with the franchise on the whole, then I’m happy.

But games are also expensive and they are not ment for adults at all. Maybe for a 2 years old kid.

I think Pokemon origins was meant for us adults. It was definitely more mature, the hero was RED not ASH, and the entire story was wrapped up in 4 episodes. Great anime.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Origins

Pokémon Origins Trailer

[jakyol]

I thought they have done a pretty good job with the collector sets, as well as the Origins anime. The Detective Pikachu movie was also more mature than I expected it to be. I know a lot of folks here won’t touch anything modern, so I am not really sure what else they are suppose to do to cater to a older audience.

[boogus]

@lamplamp

I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but the Pokemon Adventures Manga is a fantastic read that’s definitely geared to an older audience. If you’re going to read it, I’d recommend finding some scans of the Japanese version that’s been translated to English. When the English versions were printed, some of the scenes were censored or changed to be less mature similar to some of the TCG artwork changes.

^ This.

Also, I have not really enjoyed the video games lately as I just feel like they are more concerned with holding your hand/telling you a story, rather than letting you have your own adventure. I would say that if you feel the same (or even if you don’t), there are some great “Quality of Life” romhacks out there that make revisiting some of the older generations a lot of fun. Some just make it so you can “catch ‘em all” on a single game file, others update game mechanics to be in-line with newer generations. Visiting these romhacks scratches my “pokemon content for an older audience” itch (even though it’s not directly from Pokemon)