When you have a franchise that has done a lot right, continues to get dominant sales, and is iconic in many different ways, you expect it to be on top of many charts. Pokemon is one such example of that. As we’ve talked about previously, it’s the largest IP in the entire world, going far beyond games and even anime to dominate public consciousness. If you recall, their star protagonist was even in Death Battle recently (and it was epic!) However, a new study that was aimed at Square Enix of all places further highlights just how dominant the IP is.
Rewinding a bit, one of Square Enix’s biggest investors is an “activist group” known as 3D Investment Partners, and they made a massive presentation with the goal of showing off what the publisher is doing wrong and how they can fix it. One of the slides in the presentation was how “aware” RPG gamers in the US are of their franchises:
If you read the fine print, the survey in question had over 25,000 responses, and of the 1500 “analyzed” ones, 88% were aware of Pokemon. That’s 18% over the next entry, and nearly 30% more than the No.3 entry!
So, yeah, people love this franchise, and when you look at its recent games, you’ll see that they are selling incredibly well still. While it’s unfair to think that Square Enix should attempt to match this “awareness level,” as their two big franchises did well in the survey, it does show the gap between them and others.
Source: 3D Investment Partners
