SWOT Analysis for: POKMON by Frank Gonzalez Last Revised: 03/05/2017

Executive Summary 2

Strengths 2

Weaknesses 3

Opportunities 4

Threats 4

Recommendation 5
 SWOT Analysis for: POKMON by Frank Gonzalez Last Revised: 03/05/2017

Executive Summary

I want to be
the very best
like no one ever was

If you reed this singing in you mind, or even keep it playing into your mental soundtrack,
then you know that Pokmon has been a really successful franchise across the time. Its
been 20 years now (21 this year, actually), Pokmon has its very own commemoration
day, has being in TV, movies, anime series for seasons, as well as manga, advertising,
mascoting and almost every media you can name. This is also a franchise that has rescue
Nintendo from oblivion and allowing Nintendo to have the place it has now in the
industry, and Pikachu is as well known as Mario when it comes to think about Nintendos
mayor mascots. Created by Satoshi Tajiri, it has evolving constantly having the rooster
growing from 151 pokmon in the first generation, to 801 with the latest addition, this
giant has his Strengths as well as turn downs, lets crack down the franchise status in the
following analysis!

Strengths
Solid Story: Each game has more or less the same story: the noobish guy who
needs to get introduced to the pokemon world and ends to be the new champion
of the region, while in his path to success, happens to take down a criminal (of
some sort) organization with a leader with worldwide domination plans. Pokemon
has know how to twist this plot over 7 generations now, and even more: Fans
expects to be this way.
Easy to learn game mechanics: It is not hard to learn how to play, all the basics
to go through the game can be learned from the first 10 minutes of the game, and
no matter what pokmon you pick, you will be using the 4 movements and the
paper/rock/scissors method, going from challenge to challenge, filling the dex,
getting badges, creating party of 6 pokmon to be carry with you, making them
evolve and trading with friends. Also, Pokemon introduces new mechanics like
the mega evolutions and the newly added z move.
High cap skill gameplay able. Nevertheless it is simple enough, this could be as
sophisticated as chest! Players gather around the worlds championships and
organize their own local/social media tournaments, with new strategies coming
up, party design and moveset design as well.
Spin offs. Tons of games had being incorporated to the franchise in several
formats, from TGC to smartphones, or even games with different mechanics (like
pokemon ranger or pokemon snap) made some of them for other consoles, like the
resent Pokken Tournament, which is a fighting game. Also it has it own manga,
anime and movie series.
SWOT Analysis for: POKMON by Frank Gonzalez Last Revised: 03/05/2017

Collection. Gotta catchem all! The official website pokedex number is a grand
801 total over seven generations over the last 20 years! A great job has done the
Franchise keeping the same awesome artist and designer Ken Sugimori, allowing
all of them to have the coherence of inhabitat the same world
Mascoting. A number of pokmon has been selected to appear in some other
games, media, or being chosen to represent companies like airlines or even Japan
teams, sport events and so forth! Pikachu being the most recognizable character of
the franchise, is now also coins issued by New Zealand, worth 1 New Zealand
Dollar! Have to mention that Pikachu was the official mascot for Japan Soccer
Team in FIFAs World Cup 2014, and it is going to be one of many gamer
mascots in the next Tokio 2020 Olympics!

Weaknesses

Casual v Hardcore. In a game with high skill cap, is hard to balance the fun for
hardcore gamers and what is actually fun for casual gamers, and I think this issue
is affecting several games, but in pokmon this brings a variety of problems, like
some listed above. Over all, hardcore gamers get disappointed with the story
cause they look at it as a turn down, while casuals got frustrated by high skilled
players found in online battles. Also, designing not-core-mechanics (like
Pokeplaza or the character customization) is constantly changing from game to
game, sometimes bringing back good things, but some other those got forgotten,
making the community to enrage for one or another reason!
GTS spams. The Global Trade System has always had the same issue: people
offering a low level pokmon, very common, asking for a rare pokmon, high
level, rare rate gender, etc I know some pokmon breeders (or makers) use this
like a way to do some fun giveaways, but without taking those on count, you can
find this problem for a really high number of posts like this, over 25 or so, for
several different pokmons (take caterpie, rattata, yungoos, etc)
Hexed Pokmon battle. Game Freak has always have the same problem: some
players have some ways to hack the game and fabricate their own pokmon,
making them with the bests stats, natures and movesets, or even the level and item
they would. And then, use those cracked pokmon on online battles with a little or
not much problem, no filter (some attempt has been made, but with little success),
making online battling very frustrating for players or being forced to do the same
in order to be competitive.
Unbalanced long metas. Patching is not occurring frequently, if any. Usually you
have to wait till the next game to get things fixed, balanced while a lot of games
uses a 2-4 week meta or even weekly hotfixes (take your favorite MOBA for
instance), yeah, I know this is another genre, but battling online is one of the most
important endgame elements.
SWOT Analysis for: POKMON by Frank Gonzalez Last Revised: 03/05/2017

Pokmon expectations! Sounds like something good, right? But pokmon

maniacs take this the hard way! For ex, starters... Starters are the most expected
pokmon for each generation and its always a challenge to design one. Last
generation starters are some of the most poorly received from all is this a bad
sign? It might be, not necessarily but the truth is that they werent very popular.
Besides, the pokmon types are weird and weak.

Opportunities
Nintendo Switch. With the arrival of the new Nintendo console, being this
mobile and able to display different screen resolutions, the incorporation of
variety of physics, HD graphics, music, all this must be added to this franchise,
bringing it to a whole new level. For instance, think in animations for the entire
battle and not only for the move turn, just like in the anime, where pokmon are
interacting and when the trainer calls a movement, the pokmon execute it while
wrestling, or like in the Pokken Tournament. Would be awesome
Banning system. As we said, some pokmon are unbalanced in a meta, and tend
to be in every single party, so you can have a battle with not much variety
between teams, while having a pool of 801, makes no sense at all. You can fix
this by adding more items mechanics, but the cost may result being too complex
to casual gamers
Adding more types. Pokmon has 9 types of pokmon, and each pokmon is able
to have 2 types (some may say 3 counting the mega evolution change, but still,
only 2 at a time). And Game Freak has being having the same problem for the
lasts generations, making appealing pokmon, but with somehow bad type
convitation, which results in an useless pokmon at the end for the numerous
weaknesses it have (Alola Sandslash Steel/Ice, for instance, being 4x weak
against Fighting AND Fire types, and 2x weak against Ground), so, if they add a
third type for this pokmon, like +Water, they could mitigate this weakness.
Canon. Lore is very important for a game that has being for this long and present
in several media, websites (wikias included) and a lot of fan art as well. And
Pokmon has several plot holes that can be easily filled with the establishment of
a canon, that tells what is official canon (cause the animes series is not canon). i
think this would open a new branch for this already successful franchise, where
players will be delighted to explore.

Threats
Platforms. Well, you have to own a Nintendo 3DS (or 2DS) in order to play this
games. This has been a lifesaver for Nintendo over the years, resolving bankrupts
in more than 1 occasions. But now, with Android and iOS making games with
great graphics and able to reproduce the same game mechanics, Pokmon might
be left behind if not take the leap
SWOT Analysis for: POKMON by Frank Gonzalez Last Revised: 03/05/2017

Niche. Nintendo tends to manage exclusive franchise (recently exploring mobiles

with Pokemon Go, Pokmon Shuffle or Mario Run). While this games have been
well accepted (massively, you would say, in case of Pokmon Go), those are not
focused on the same game mechanics than the mainstream games, are more like
spin offs. So, alike the previous point, you have to be real fan of the series in
order to purchase the portable console AND the game (or games, if you buy both
versions of the game, which is not needed, but a lot of people like too)
Pokmon. Well, not learning of your mistakes is always very unwise, and
Pokmon franchise has not being doing this faster enough and players, who loves
the games and characters, are going to remain loyal to some point
Competition. Not having/ having. Pokmon really dont have competitors, and
having 20 years now, give it a wide advantage to any game to even try. While this
may some dreamy, this makes this game to be the only choice for people that can
get bored of the same stuff, although this has being working for this long

Recommendation
Overall, I think there are a few changes to be done and the first would be to set more
interaction between platforms, specially with Pokmon Go and the latest Sun and Moon
at the moment, but for more sure for the first game for the Nintendo Switch. I would
implement the third type for each pokmon in order to fix balance and do the reworks for
the pokmon that are under performed.

Also, a better patching system focused in two main aspects: banning hexed pokes and
balancing would be in the first order to implement.

I would take advantage of the vast community that is already builded around the
Pokemon and start to set the canon, which I will use to do a series of games based on the
story lore (another spin off), and that would be awesome based in the recently concluded
Pokmon Generations series, released in YouTube for the lasts months, with a great
acceptance, and having the community asking for more. Would be very important to
provide Pokmon world with more constant updates and video material to respond to the
players expectations, and maintain the core game elements, such as the story, well
character design and the collection additions they way they are.

I would explore the possibility of make a fan version based generation with the
participation of all the community and draw by Ken Sugimori because we all love it. Also
will do voting to give the community more voice in the next character elections for
participations on some other game franchise, like Smash Bros series.

And, definitely, taking advantage of my positioning in the genre, and all the generations
being taken place in specific themed location, I would start a project of Pokmon
World, where the player may interact across the regions (Kanto, Johto, Kalos, Alola),
and making this MMO for sure.