It always seems like there is no stopping the excellent Pokemon franchise and news has emerged today which solidifies its popularity worldwide. Data posted today shows that the Pokemon series is the most popular media brand in the entire world. Mario fans might be disappointed to hear that the Italian plumber is at number five. Here’s the world’s most popular media brands:
- Pokemon (year of inception 1996), grossed $59.1 billion
- Hello Kitty (1974) $50.3 billion
- Star Wars (1977) $43.7 billion
- Mickey Mouse & friends (1928) $35.7 billion
- Mario (1981) $27.1 billion
wow! amazing
No disappointment from me at Mario being number 5, still very impressive.
Damn between Pokemon and Mario Nintendo is making 86.2 billion yet people still say that none play Nintendo/Game Freak games.
Exactly. You don’t see any Microsoft or Sony franchises on that list.
They have franchises? xD
I’m going to assume this comment is a joke because they definitely have franchises.
WRONG!
Nintendo does not own pokemon.
They own like a 3rd of their stock!
They own part of it so they still make a ton of profit off of Pokemon.
Nintendo owns all of the trademarks though. The copyright ownership is split between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc., but Nintendo has 100% ownership of the trademarks. It even says so on the official Pokemon site.
https://www.pokemon.com/us/legal/
“© 2018 Pokémon. © 1995–2018 Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc. Pokémon, Pokémon character names, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, Wii U, and Wiiware are trademarks of Nintendo. The YouTube logo is a trademark of Google Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.”
All of the characters are owned by Nintendo.
They own enough to basically have Pokemon as “theirs” I believe Gamefreak or some important subsidiary of Gamefreak is mainly Nintendo. Doesnt Nintendo and Creatures Inc own a significant portion of them? With creatures inc being mostly Nintendo too
Go Pokémon! Apparently, you are the vary best! Keep at it!
Great, hopefully Nintendo ever gonna make some decent tech that is relevant in the present when it comes to specs and maybe then we can play an Poke MMO or something big that doesn’t play like Powerpoint.
It’s one of the best. gotta catch em all.
This refers to media as a whole, not just video games. Lots of things sale under the banner of Pokemon. You got toys, movies, the TV show, mugs, backpacks, phone covers, keychains, and the list goes on. The fact it attracts anyone from infants to old people is another factor that helps it sale billions. (Same goes for the other top 5 in this list.) Some seem to be getting confused & thinks that this proves that Pokemon is THE best video game series. (Of course, no list in the world can prove that, really, since THE best video game is subjective.)
Duh. Pokemon is all about selling it’s brand. Video games is just a side hobby.
A side hobby that pales in comparison to the money they make in their other fields.
The games could flop faster than Wii U and the Pokemon brand would still be making billions.
Which would never happen because everyone still buys the games… which they sell 2 versions of (4 versions last time) of. I don’t like what Pokemon has become… I don’t find the games fun anymore… but I USED to when I was a kid back with RB GS and I’m sort of like… “Ok, I’ll give you guys a chance to see if you’ve refined or grown the games at all in an enjoyable way vs the usual low-effort, profitable way”. I think most people are just too forgiving of the series due to nostalgia.
I’ve drawn the line though. No way I’m trying Pokemon GO switch. Oh, and speaking of… that’s their cash cow now. Anyone thinking there’s going to be some grand, gorgeous HD classic Pokemon switch game in the near future is just kidding themselves. In fact…. I’d be willing to bet we’ll be seeing more Let’s GO remakes of the older gens… or at least one more after this one.
It IS more profitable to make minimal effort & just copy & paste the same thing over again with just a new story which is sadly what GameFreak is known for since they didn’t even move to full 3D models til just two gens ago. Basically they waited til the tech to make 3D models on handheld got cheap & boom! 3D Pokemon with X/Y. Since the Switch isn’t a beast, I sadly only expect more minimal, cheap effort by them again. ESPECIALLY if the Let’s GO games are anything to go by. (I hope they prove us wrong, though., but the past isn’t on our side.)
I’ll get Let’s GO, Eevee! because she’s my #1 favorite Pokemon but I’ll draw the line at any more after that (hopefully.)
Really? I suppose if you like Eevee specifically but it seems very weird and backwards to not allow the player to evolve the EVOLUTION pokemon.
I hope we’ll be allowed to take Eevee from out of the game at some point. Least we better be allowed to. Maybe I should wait til others have played the game to see if we can take out Eevee & Pikachu. I don’t want another Cosplay Pikachu on my hands; I’m STILL pissed about that as I liked her black tipped tail! (Fuckers!)
It’s also the youngest in that top 5. I would hope to see them when I’m ancient and see if they’re still in the running like Mickey still is.
Tangent-
Then again markets change as brands are likely more global nowadays. For all we know brands will be even larger in the future.
Don’t worry my precious Hello Kitty, you’ll beat them some day. Lol
I’m lucky to have been a Pokemon fan since its inception.
And I hope the franchise lasts longer than me.