5 Lessons Nintendo Should Take Away From Pokemon GO

Pokemon Can Be So Much More

Pokemon GO is a sort of miracle in many ways. While Nintendo has done different things with the Pokemon franchise, the games have mostly adhered to the tried and true and relatively safe formats. When there were amazing outliers, such as Pokemon Snap, they didn’t get a second look. One of the new experiences that fans have been requesting for years is an MMO that lets players be trainers against everyone else. While Pokemon GO isn’t exactly what those fans had in mind, it’s much closer to that than what The Pokemon Company has been putting out in recent years.

A big deal for Nintendo has always been protecting franchises and ensuring that the identity of certain characters and mechanics stay true to their roots. That often meant giving players more of the same every couple of years instead of busting the gates wide open. But with the success of this latest project, hopefully the company can see that it’s okay to let things be more. Pokemon was certainly a game that didn’t need to be confined, and if that lesson can be applied to other properties, then Nintendo can see a whole new level of success in the future. 

It’s Good to Work With Others

Slowly but surely, Nintendo has been learning that working with others on their own properties can in fact pay off. Bandai Namco helped to create one of the best Super Smash Bros. games to date and even put it on the 3DS. But even that success pales in comparison to what Niantic has accomplished. The release of Pokemon GO has trumped some of the biggest social media networks and has drastically increased the value of Nintendo as a whole.

Nintendo, the company that always plays its biggest cards close to its chest, bet big bringing one of its biggest games to mobile using a third party. While the company’s primary developers are busy toiling away on first party exclusives for the 3DS and upcoming NX, a mobile developer has managed to take the core of what makes Pokemon so great and build something both simple and amazing. 

Mobile Should Definitely Be A Bigger Part of the Nintendo Ecosystem

Nintendo has relied on exclusives and first-party consoles for a long time. On one hand, this has helped Nintendo since fans had to purchase their systems in order to play their games. On the other hand, the lack of major third-party support means their machines aren’t good for much else, this serves as a sort of a deterrent to those who aren’t mega fans. How can a company make money on its biggest properties while not having to put them on competitive consoles? Mobile.

Nintendo is no stranger to the mobile market, but it had yet to see success such as Pokemon GO. This was the first time that the publisher took one of its major franchises and did a game true to the original, rather than just an odd spinoff. The fact that Pokemon GO is on most mobile devices, and is free, was the perfect way to draw in old and new fans alike. Once they were in, they were hooked.

Since then, Nintendo’s market value has shot up and the company is now making millions of dollars per day. If this isn’t a big enough sign that the company should get with the times, I don’t know what is. 

The Thing About Demand and Servers

One thing that Pokemon GO hopefully taught Nintendo is that you can never have too many servers for a really popular property going online. Pokemon GO already had feverish hype before it ever became available to download. Yet, even with all of the preparation it still had server issues at launch, this may be due to an underestimating of just how many people really wanted to play the game.

With Nintendo soon launching the NX and hopefully doubling down on online gaming, this is a valuable lesson. We’ve seen huge launches sullied by poor execution (Destiny, The Division, etc.), and with Nintendo getting a big taste for it now, hopefully they can put this experience to use in the coming months. 

Fun Trumps All

This is much more of a reaffirmation than a brand new lesson, but still something Nintendo should take to heart. Fun is what Nintendo is good at. While everyone else is doing the same old thing, following trends and playing to the genre of the moment, Nintendo has been doing its own thing. With the Wii U suffering as it has, there was the risk of the company just following suit. Pokemon GO, with all of its simplicity and ability to bring people together over something most would consider childish, is a sign that Nintendo has always been on the right track.

The company should let Pokemon GO be a shining beacon of what they stand for. Fun over anything else, even if it seems a little weird, has placed Nintendo into the hearts and homes of many, and that should continue to be the case.