Perhaps one of the most unexpected, unpredicted success stories of this year is Pokémon GO. The app that brought AR gaming into our lives took the world by storm, and even though the decline came as fast as the immediate success, downloads are still high, and there is no question as to this global phenomenon’s impact.
In fact, the game, which is based on the classic Nintendo franchise, has become so popular, that rival developer Sony is planning to create a phenomenon of their own, according to reports.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Sony’s Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai did not hide his interest in the success of Pokémon GO, and said that his company will “aggressively” peruse mobile gaming.
“Pokémon GO is a real game-changer. I’m very interested in the fact that it has the potential to really change the way people move, literally.”
But can Hirai expect a similar success?
There’s one thing he forgets, so it seems, and it is the 21 years of the Pokémon brand-building.
It was established in 1995 in Japan, and was managed by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, but owned by the former. It began with a couple of video games, and became the second-most successful and lucrative video game based media franchise in the world, which includes movies, an anime TV series, trading card game, and merchandise.
This made Pokémon GO’s rise to the top much easier, and this probably means things will not be as simple for Sony.
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what Sony, which made a name for itself in the game-console industry but not yet in mobile, will have in store.