Pokemon Sleep and Pokemon GO Weren’t Designed To Be “Healthcare” Titles

UPDATE

Are you glad that The Pokemon Company branched out its franchise in these ways? In what ways could they branch out further? Let us know below!

ORIGINAL STORY

The Pokemon Company has been around for decades, and they have adapted to the ever-changing video game landscape better than most. It would’ve been incredibly easy for them to latch onto their mainline RPG franchise and ride off into the sunset with it. But instead, they decided to branch off and do various spinoffs that tapped into other genres. While not every one was a mega-hit, plenty of them sold well, and thus the spinoffs continued. But over the last seven years, titles like Pokemon Sleep and Pokemon GO have gotten people wondering if the company is trying to do something else with their titles.

By that, we mean how the two games are just as much about staying healthy as about catching and collecting Pokemon. In an interview with ComicBook.com, The Pokemon Company COO Takato Utsunomiya revealed that it wasn’t meant to be about “wellness” or “healthcare” but rather about putting Pokemon into people’s lives in new ways:

“Just to clarify a little bit on the positioning of the products, we didn’t really begin Pokemon Go or Pokemon Sleep with the idea that we wanted to get into the wellness or healthcare category. It was really more of a focus…an interesting idea where people maybe walk with their Pokemon a lot. Or for example, having this game where through your sleep you’re able to interact with Pokemon. That’s another way that maybe they sleep more. But the main idea there is that it’s more integrating Pokemon into people’s daily lives. And by doing that we’re able to increase their love for Pokemon, or also get more people interested in Pokemon and increase the fan base in general.”

So not unlike many other franchises, they were interested in broadening their reach, which is understandable. Another way to look at this, which Takato noted, is that decades have passed since Gen 1 came around. That means those playing the first batch of titles when they were young are now fully grown adults. They might have different tastes in how they want to enjoy the franchise, and titles like these give them new options.

Speaking about Pokemon GO, one of the reasons it remained popular during the global pandemic was that it got people to go outside to collect Pokemon, which helped them stay healthy.

As for their sleeping title, while it may not seem like something people would want, it’s becoming quite popular. In other words, you don’t argue when something succeeds.