Pokemon has sold 34.1 billion cards since 1998.
3.7 billion Pokemon cards were sold in 2020 alone.
10 billion dollars in sales have been made off the cards.
Now, some info on Pokemon Go.
- 5 billion dollars in lifetime revenue.
- 1.3 billion made in 2020.
- 632 million downloads
Daily active users hit 830,000 in the US and that makes up about 20% of total users globally.
Meaning, Pokemon Go is one of the highest revenue apps ever with a base of about 4-5 million daily users, but a revenue of over a billion dollars.
Pokemon Go hit in 2016 bringing in massive amounts of revenue and was more profitable in 2020 over 2016, showing it’s still growing. It was also the first major game to bring a really basic augmented reality to the market.
Idea for what could be a good follow up game featuring some elements of augmented reality and other pretty basic tech.
First thing, make new Pokemon cards have QR code’s built into the design of the Pokemon to not damage the design of the card, but make each one unique.
Two, create an app to recognize that and monitor the card marked to that user.
Three, create an interface where people can interact with the card in several games, including battling with other users playing versions of the card game. This interface will include different moves, levels, happiness and anything else people know with playing the video games.
A little more detail in what this would look like. Kids play the card game, swipe cards on the phone before putting down and match is being recorded with watching moves and so on.
Four, optional one, but have it so people can see pokemon standing over the cards through their phone. Make it look like how Pokemon Go looks, but on the cards and hold battling and other interactions through that.
Five, record everything. If kids trade cards, it’ll be done on this system and hold a user chain where every kid can see previous owners and even have some interaction on that. This gains some popularity to the idea of trading the company marketed.
Six, upsell like crazy. Easy explanation on how this works is Pokemon has a concept called “evolution” which basically works as the little Pokemon fighting and becoming big ones. Have it so kids using the pre-evolved ones playing in the card games can level up and the app can try to upsell asking to buy the new card to evolve it and have it mailed out. Creating a really simple chain to sell more cards and market regularly.
Why this is a good idea.
They already sell billions of these cards a year and they are extremely low cost, but have strong margins.
This modernizes them in away that doesn’t damage the core value and creates a chain which would likely boost sales and increases chances to sell more.
Another gimmick which could work is incorporating closely with Pokemon Go. People play the game with the Pokemon they catch on Pokemon Go, train it and can have a custom card made for it with nickname, moves, where it was caught, customization and more.
An idea which I’m shocked wasn’t out on the first day made.