The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than kids.

[DasManiac]

Siliconera had a fascinating article showing the shifting demographics of the series. Despite the fact that the series is now almost entirely played by adults, Game Freak insists on making the games easier and still targeting kids as the primary demographic. In fact people my age, College students were the majority of people that bought X/Y upon launch.That presents a major problem for the series. This also suggests that despite what people believe, the anime is probably almost entirely watched by teenagers and adults. The question is why does Game Freak still not acknowledge this? I mean surely they must know that the audience they think is buying their games isn't actually the one really buying them.

 

[Osprey]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

Hm. It kind of makes sense. The people who love these games the most probably started as children, then grew up and continued to play. The appeal of the series hasn't changed; the ages of the same people who've played them for so long have. While a game to target the college students and older would be appreciated, the games themselves, even though they are designed for children, have managed to keep a steady group all of these years by the same formula. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If GF tinkers with the essence of the game too much, they could create an even bigger amount on animosity than Gen III.

I'd say GF should continue to make their main games the same way. If they want to go at the "darker and edgier" territory, they can team up with another group and produce some spin-offs.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

Well this could be good news for our demographic because it may mean that they'll start appealing more to us, but at the same time this is bad news for Pokemon's long term future because I don't think our demographic is very sustainable. I think the main problem here is that kids are moving towards mobile, and Pokemon in a sense cripples its market appeal by being a Nintendo exclusive. So as long as Pokemon remains synonymous with Nintendo, both Nintendo and Game Freak face a conundrum. They value unique, high quality experiences on gaming centric devices, but the market is shifting away from that. So do they go where the money is and compromise their core philosophy, stick with their core fanbase and risk fading into irrelevance, or find another blue ocean market that may not stick with them? Nintendo seems to like the third option, but Game Freak has always considered Pokemon a kid's game so they may have to change their target audience.

 

[Almonds]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

Of course this is likely due to the players growing up. I'm not surprised most of the early consumers for ORAS are adults, considering they were the ones who played RSE when they were children. I agree at the end of the article that GameFreak has to continuously attract the younger audience who will keep consuming their products over the years, just like most of us had done. It's how they survive.

However, I do feel that they need to start taking the older audiences seriously as well. If most of their money comes from the adult fanbase, then surely they should do something to keep them interested and spend money on their products. They can make spinoffs like @BlackOsprey; said, or produce new media related to pokemon that adults have better access to. It's a matter of how creative they can get.

 

[The Outrage]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

I like how its called "shifting demographics" when its more like its original fans never left. What demographic did it shift to?

This also suggests that despite what people believe, the anime is probably almost entirely watched by teenagers and adults.

That's a bit much to extrapolate from game sales.

And what do you mean not acknowledging this? Have you seen some of the dialogue, especially in Mauville? Full of people hating on adult life. One guy feels unmotivated because he has to go back to work the next day, another guy talks about mortgages. Game Freak acknowledges their older fanbase in really weird ways, but they are acknowledged. Aside from the funny lines poking fun at adult life, they also made competitive battling a lot easier.

And its really weird that people here assume appealing to an older demographic means going "darker and edgier"--you guys realize Pokemon has been appealing to adults right now without going darker and edgier, right? Besides, this darker and edgier stuff people want to see wreaks of immature children trying to be adults.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

I like how its called "shifting demographics" when its more like its original fans never left. What demographic did it shift to?

Demographics =/= generations. You're looking at it in terms of generations, and by nature generations shift through different demographics. The idea behind it being a kids series is that it constantly shifts to the younger generation while targeting the same demographic, with the older generations eventually drop outside the target audience. The demographics are shifting because the younger generations aren't buying into it and they're left with the older generations, which are now a different demographic.

tl;dr It's a "shifting demographic" because it's the same fans, but in a different age group.

And what do you mean not acknowledging this? Have you seen some of the dialogue, especially in Mauville? Full of people hating on adult life. One guy feels unmotivated because he has to go back to work the next day, another guy talks about mortgages. Game Freak acknowledges their older fanbase in really weird ways, but they are acknowledged. Aside from the funny lines poking fun at adult life, they also made competitive battling a lot easier.

And its really weird that people here assume appealing to an older demographic means going "darker and edgier"--you guys realize Pokemon has been appealing to adults right now without going darker and edgier, right? Besides, this darker and edgier stuff people want to see wreaks of immature children trying to be adults.

Those things aren't particularly significant though, it's basically minor references and fanservice. If they're going to start appealing to older fans, they need to start appealing to the older fans in bigger ways. What they should do is reverse some of the things that they did in 5th gen like linear region design, streamlined gameplay, limits on trainer rosters, etc.

 

[Silktree]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

What they should do is reverse some of the things that they did in 5th gen like linear region design, streamlined gameplay, limits on trainer rosters, etc.

The irony is that the shift started back then.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

What they should do is reverse some of the things that they did in 5th gen like linear region design, streamlined gameplay, limits on trainer rosters, etc.

The irony is that the shift started back then.

You know, now that I think about it that may not have been a coincidence. Perhaps the change in gameplay was an attempt at bringing back those audiences. But yeah, obviously those measures have failed so it's pointless to continue.

 

[Silktree]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

You know, now that I think about it that may not have been a coincidence. Perhaps the change in gameplay was an attempt at bringing back those audiences. But yeah, obviously those measures have failed so it's pointless to continue.

In 2010 the shift had only started; the majority of HGSS players were still kids. Black and White were made to appeal to adults by way of a more mature story and a "fresh new start" to make things less predictable and somehow re-ignite the feeling of playing a Pokémon game for the first time.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

You know, now that I think about it that may not have been a coincidence. Perhaps the change in gameplay was an attempt at bringing back those audiences. But yeah, obviously those measures have failed so it's pointless to continue.

In 2010 the shift had only started; the majority of HGSS players were still kids. Black and White were made to appeal to adults by way of a more mature story and a "fresh new start" to make things less predictable and somehow re-ignite the feeling of playing a Pokémon game for the first time.

But they also dumbed down the game to make it easier to progress and simplified things so the games could be played in shorter intervals, which are clearly made to appeal to kids and casuals and reduce the appeal for adults. And I doubt that the fresh start was simply designed with the older fanbase in mind either because it makes it easier to ease in younger players to the series. What's left after that is just the storyline, which again boils down to fanservice. The actual gameplay and design was very much geared towards kids and casuals. Hence, if they're going to start gearing the games more towards adults there's no need to continue any of this, older fans would be more satisfied with a larger, deeper gameplay experience.

 

[henrymidfields]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

But they also dumbed down the game to make it easier to progress and simplified things so the games could be played in shorter intervals, which are clearly made to appeal to kids and casuals ... The actual gameplay and design was very much geared towards kids and casuals.

My experience (and seeing past posts, I think a number of other people may agree) with BW1 would like to disagree with you. BW1 has got better AI and movepools for Gym Leaders and more difficult grinding as well. To this day, I still don't know how I managed to win against Elesa, and I only won against Clay due to one of my Pokémon's Quick Claw activating. Seriously, this was a game which level grinding just simply didn't work for most of my playthrough, and where I actually had to use TMs, held items, and a larger variety of Pokemon. (Thank goodness XY wasn't this difficult! Even GSC was less difficult in this regard.) You're kind of right for BW2, though - although that hasn't really detract from my experience.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

I would be wary of making assumptions about the anime demographics based on game sales, and more wary of making assumptions based on the kind of people who talk about the anime online.

Regarding the games, yeah, I could believe that more adults are buying the games than kids. Data from online registration probably doesn't tell the whole story - it may be that a lot of kids play the games but don't use the online features very much. In any case, one of the great strengths of the franchise is that it keeps bringing in young players. How many of you guys started off with a DS game in Gen IV, rather than a Game Boy game in I or II?

It may frustrate older players that the accessibility of recent generations means that the main play-through is easy for veterans, but it's unlikely to go away. The success of Pokémon is that it's just as easy to play by kids and casual players as more competitive gamers. The games already cater for a competitive player in online battling and (In a lot of the titles, admittedly not so far in Gen VI) the Battle Frontier.

 

[Almonds]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

You know, now that I think about it that may not have been a coincidence. Perhaps the change in gameplay was an attempt at bringing back those audiences. But yeah, obviously those measures have failed so it's pointless to continue.

In 2010 the shift had only started; the majority of HGSS players were still kids. Black and White were made to appeal to adults by way of a more mature story and a "fresh new start" to make things less predictable and somehow re-ignite the feeling of playing a Pokémon game for the first time.

But they also dumbed down the game to make it easier to progress and simplified things so the games could be played in shorter intervals, which are clearly made to appeal to kids and casuals and reduce the appeal for adults. And I doubt that the fresh start was simply designed with the older fanbase in mind either because it makes it easier to ease in younger players to the series. What's left after that is just the storyline, which again boils down to fanservice. The actual gameplay and design was very much geared towards kids and casuals. Hence, if they're going to start gearing the games more towards adults there's no need to continue any of this, older fans would be more satisfied with a larger, deeper gameplay experience.

I would love another BW-esque game with a deep story that addresses real life issues. Forget the AI; the story got me really into the game and it was so engaging that I almost cried at the end when N said farewell. BW ranks as one of my top favorite games. And fanservice? It's not a bad thing if it can attract more people to love their products. There are people who bought the game simply because they liked N and all the fanservice around him. Did GF intend that? Probably not, but it got somebody to buy the games regardless. It made somebody like the game and have a wonderful experience with their favorite character. Not all the adults playing pokemon are hardcore battlers looking for complex gameplay. I'm one of those who play for story, look for characters with development, and make my own adventure tale interacting with the NPCs. I want to see the next scene of the plot, not grind for hours just because I couldn't get that next gym badge. I want to get to the next town and listen to more urban legends, not spend hours in a dungeon spraying repels after repels because it's a difficult maze. I want to see what the villains are up to in the next place and hear about their plans, regardless of how messed up it might be. There's also nothing wrong with the games being more casual because there are people who would love it better if the games didn't require intense concentration and didn't require your attention all the time.

tl;dr, gearing towards the adult players = balancing the games and adding more creativity, not making it to please only one-side of the fanbase.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

My experience (and seeing past posts, I think a number of other people may agree) with BW1 would like to disagree with you. BW1 has got better AI and movepools for Gym Leaders and more difficult grinding as well. To this day, I still don't know how I managed to win against Elesa, and I only won against Clay due to one of my Pokémon's Quick Claw activating. Seriously, this was a game which level grinding just simply didn't work for most of my playthrough, and where I actually had to use TMs, held items, and a larger variety of Pokemon. (Thank goodness XY wasn't this difficult! Even GSC was less difficult in this regard.) You're kind of right for BW2, though - although that hasn't really detract from my experience.

It's very rare that either 5th gen game gave me a legitimate challenge. Most of the problems came from poor pacing (Clay, the Striaton trio to a lesser degree) and poor distribution (Cheren, BW2 Drayden). If the games were to get remakes that fixed the EXP system and added Fairy types to the mix I guarantee you that most of the challenge would disappear.

Regarding the games, yeah, I could believe that more adults are buying the games than kids. Data from online registration probably doesn't tell the whole story - it may be that a lot of kids play the games but don't use the online features very much. In any case, one of the great strengths of the franchise is that it keeps bringing in young players. How many of you guys started off with a DS game in Gen IV, rather than a Game Boy game in I or II?

These are based on sales, not online registration. The figures come from retail and eShop sales.

It may frustrate older players that the accessibility of recent generations means that the main play-through is easy for veterans, but it's unlikely to go away. The success of Pokémon is that it's just as easy to play by kids and casual players as more competitive gamers. The games already cater for a competitive player in online battling and (In a lot of the titles, admittedly not so far in Gen VI) the Battle Frontier.

Except with the kids and casuals going away, there's no point. They're appealing to an audience that isn't buying the games.

I would love another BW-esque game with a deep story that addresses real life issues. Forget the AI; the story got me really into the game and it was so engaging that I almost cried at the end when N said farewell. BW ranks as one of my top favorite games. And fanservice? It's not a bad thing if it can attract more people to love their products. There are people who bought the game simply because they liked N and all the fanservice around him. Did GF intend that? Probably not, but it got somebody to buy the games regardless. It made somebody like the game and have a wonderful experience with their favorite character. Not all the adults playing pokemon are hardcore battlers looking for complex gameplay. I'm one of those who play for story, look for characters with development, and make my own adventure tale interacting with the NPCs. I want to see the next scene of the plot, not grind for hours just because I couldn't get that next gym badge. I want to get to the next town and listen to more urban legends, not spend hours in a dungeon spraying repels after repels because it's a difficult maze. I want to see what the villains are up to in the next place and hear about their plans, regardless of how messed up it might be. There's also nothing wrong with the games being more casual because there are people who would love it better if the games didn't require intense concentration and didn't require your attention all the time.

tl;dr, gearing towards the adult players = balancing the games and adding more creativity, not making it to please only one-side of the fanbase.

Yeah, I would love it if they kept some things they did in 5th gen like the deeper story and the reduced HM usage. But the direction they took with the region design, gameplay, and difficulty needs to go. That's not a balanced approach that's friendly to older players, the main game is more geared towards kids and casuals. A balanced approach would be if they could accommodate both sides of the fanbase in the main game. Give the player options based on their playstyle. Multiple difficulties so that trainer rosters can match the player's skill. Region design that is simple and straightforward to get to your next destination but with plenty of options for exploration. That sort of stuff.

 

[Nymphia]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

One: The data ONLY refers to Japan.

The shift to older audiences has been higher than the aging of the original children demographic. Because it's obvious that a 6-8 year boy in 2006 won't become a college user of OR/AS by age alone.

And the shift has been caused by three factors, one that has happened since HG/SS and one that is happening now:
-A gradual transition to older audiences since HG/SS. D/P had a typical distributiuon of a kids games, HG/SS was older, B/W was older than that, X/Y is older and OR/AS is older.
-The hype surrounding the Youkai Watch franchise in Japan, casuing many childs who can't both many games choosing to buy Youkai rather than Pokemon.

The "problem" in ths hot term with the franchise is that the games is getting low sales in the targets that are more prone to sell merchandise, specially now with the Youkai hype there.

Exists various hints in recent games that the game audience (and even the anime, who is more childish) has been aimed to older audiences than before:
-Having to catch a lgendary Pokemon during the main story (true, it has a higher catch rate, but is because the usual catch rate of legendaries is ridiculous).
-More stories that aren't suited for young childs, like the B/W and X/Y stories.
-Caring about the importance of having a 31IV (not only the legendaries having 3IV, but also the X/Y safari having 2 perfect IV and the DexNav telling the number of perfect IV of your pokemon. For example, many older fans know why having a 28-30 IV Spe Latios (or Latias) is a big handicap to use in Wifi battles.


-

 

[DasManiac]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

It may frustrate older players that the accessibility of recent generations means that the main play-through is easy for veterans, but it's unlikely to go away. The success of Pokémon is that it's just as easy to play by kids and casual players as more competitive gamers. The games already cater for a competitive player in online battling and (In a lot of the titles, admittedly not so far in Gen VI) the Battle Frontier.

Except with the kids and casuals going away, there's no point. They're appealing to an audience that isn't buying the games.

Precisely the problem with the games these days. Game Freak needs to appeal to the audience that's actually buying their games. Perhaps the reason for the sales decline isn't because the loss of casuals and kids but the fact that the games are getting easier. That and Game Freak's refusal to appeal the actual audience of the games. They may think that kids and casuals are the majority of their audience but they aren't anymore. Sales just might go up if they started appealing to their actual audience.

One: The data ONLY refers to Japan.

It may only refer to Japan but I'm sure the numbers are going to be very similar in North America and Europe. The only real difference I'm guessing would be the number of children buying the games would be much smaller. Also, the data only refers to Japan because that's the only audience Game Freak really cares about. Sure it's a plus that the games sell well internationally but their and the Pokemon Company's core audience will always be Japan.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

The shift to older audiences has been higher than the aging of the original children demographic. Because it's obvious that a 6-8 year boy in 2006 won't become a college user of OR/AS by age alone.

Remember that 3rd gen was not the height of the series' popularity, in fact it was kind of a lull in popularity IIRC. The series was most popular in 1st and 2nd gen which was when Pokemon was still a fad. And the majority of that audience has certainly reached adulthood by now.

A gradual transition to older audiences since HG/SS. D/P had a typical distributiuon of a kids games, HG/SS was older, B/W was older than that, X/Y is older and OR/AS is older.

I don't quite understand what you're saying here, it sounds like you're just repeating the entire point of the article.

Precisely the problem with the games these days. Game Freak needs to appeal to the audience that's actually buying their games. Perhaps the reason for the sales decline isn't because the loss of casuals and kids but the fact that the games are getting easier.

The sales decline is likely tied to Nintendo's console sales, which have been declining recently thanks to Nintendo's dwindling appeal in the industry. Nintendo's console sales have dropped off rapidly since the Wii, which is largely attributed to the loss of the casual market which was stolen away by mobile. The difficulty isn't the problem, in fact the lower difficulty is actually more appealing to that demographic. It's that they don't want to go out and buy a 3DS to play the games.

That and Game Freak's refusal to appeal the actual audience of the games. They may think that kids and casuals are the majority of their audience but they aren't anymore. Sales just might go up if they started appealing to their actual audience.

The older Nintendo audience is fairly small compared to the kids and casuals. Most of the hardcore Nintendo games usually end up around 1-5 million units. Most of the more casual games usually reach double digits. Even if it was the most hardcore Pokemon game in the world I doubt it would ever recover from losing its initial audience.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

It may frustrate older players that the accessibility of recent generations means that the main play-through is easy for veterans, but it's unlikely to go away. The success of Pokémon is that it's just as easy to play by kids and casual players as more competitive gamers. The games already cater for a competitive player in online battling and (In a lot of the titles, admittedly not so far in Gen VI) the Battle Frontier.

Except with the kids and casuals going away, there's no point. They're appealing to an audience that isn't buying the games.

Precisely the problem with the games these days. Game Freak needs to appeal to the audience that's actually buying their games. Perhaps the reason for the sales decline isn't because the loss of casuals and kids but the fact that the games are getting easier. That and Game Freak's refusal to appeal the actual audience of the games. They may think that kids and casuals are the majority of their audience but they aren't anymore. Sales just might go up if they started appealing to their actual audience.

One: The data ONLY refers to Japan.

It may only refer to Japan but I'm sure the numbers are going to be very similar in North America and Europe. The only real difference I'm guessing would be the number of children buying the games would be much smaller. Also, the data only refers to Japan because that's the only audience Game Freak really cares about. Sure it's a plus that the games sell well internationally but their and the Pokemon Company's core audience will always be Japan.

That's a big assumption to make, and honestly based entirely on guesswork

Besides which, while I'm not going to dispute that there is a call among older gamer for more difficult games and more involved stories, there is a portion of the fanbase that keeps coming back to Pokémon because of it's light-heartedness. It's the big kid factor, the same reason why Pixar films do well among older cinema-goers. How significant that portion of the fanbase is, I don't know. The fact is that none of us have sufficient data to hand to sensibly draw much of a conclusion. The data in the article comes from Japanese sales and online registrations. The rest is presumptions based on the comments of fans made on forums, which aren't necessarily representative of all those who buy the games (There'd be a good argument for saying that it represents the core fanbase that keeps coming back game after game)

 

[Norzan]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

Following your logic, Call of Duty games from now on should be more kid-friendly because there are more children and young teenagers than adults playing the games. That's not how it works, they are not going to make the games more mature and more geared toward adults just because it "seems" there are more adults buying and playing the games.

I'm all for a good, deep story in Pokemon game but when i'm playing Pokemon i'm not looking for a mature, complex (and in some cases, mess) story.

 

[DasManiac]

Re: The Series' demographic is changing. More adults are now buying the games than ki

Following your logic, Call of Duty games from now on should be more kid-friendly because there are more children and young teenagers than adults playing the games. That's not how it works, they are not going to make the games more mature and more geared toward adults just because it "seems" there are more adults buying and playing the games.

I'm all for a good, deep story in Pokemon game but when i'm playing Pokemon i'm not looking for a mature, complex (and in some cases, mess) story.

I see nothing wrong with my logic. If the majority of people buying the games are adults then Game Freak should try and gear the games towards them. By that I mean make the story better and drop all the handholding. Makes the games more challenging and if they don't want to alienate kids then add difficulty settings. As for Call of Duty, no idea why kids play it. Not a clue what it is about the series that appeals to so many kids.