Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

GamesBeat was recently given the opportunity to speak with The Pokemon Company consumer marketing director J.C. Smith. Smith had plenty to say about the Super Bowl commercial which aired earlier in the year, the Detective Pikachu film (we’ll hear more “soon”), Pokemon GO, and more.

Per usual, we’ve rounded up some of the important responses below. You can read the full interview on GamesBeat here.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 8 Comments

J.C. Smith, The Pokemon Company’s senior director of consumer marketing, says that the aim of Pokemon GO isn’t to recreate the experience that we’re used to seeing with the main games.

Speaking with Polygon, Smith said:

“We’re not trying to recreate the video game experience. What we wanted to do with the mobile game from both sides — from Niantic as well as Pokémon — was, we wanted to make a new experience that was native to mobile.”

Niantic CEO John Hanke also spoke about what the team is setting out to achieve with Pokemon GO. Hanke highlighted the importance of accessibility for both newcomers and Pokemon fans.

He said:

“We’re trying to make the game accessible to a person who doesn’t yet know how much they want to commit to the game, who just wants to explore. That includes not just the Pokémon newbie, but those on the opposite side — a diehard who’s played all of the RPGs but isn’t sure if an augmented reality game that requires them to get up off the couch is really their speed. At the same time, we think that there’s an opportunity to build depth. There’s an emergent complexity that doesn’t hit you over the head at first blush, [from] trying to power up your Pokémon and evolve and ultimately start competing for gyms.”

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 8 Comments

The Pokemon Company’s J.C. Smith has further commented on what’s in store for the series’ future. Early next year, the franchise will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Nintendo World Report caught up with Smith at the Pokemon World Championships last weekend. While nothing specific was revealed, he did tease that there could be some big things in store.

Read up on the full exchange below.

NWR: 20 years. February 27th, 2016. What kind of plans you got, other than Pokkén Tournament?

JS: [Laughs] Wish I could tell you but I can’t!

NWR: Are there big plans for it?

JS: There’s always big plans for it. And obviously, you’re seeing some big product stuff for it that’s been announced that’s exciting for the year and we always want to keep fans on their toes, but nothing I can reveal at this time.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments

Pokemon Tournament’s Wii U version is launching worldwide next spring. The fighter is also on arcades in Japan, but its future in the west is unclear.

Take a look at this exchange between Nintendo World Report and The Pokemon Company’s J.C. Smith:

Nintendo World Report (NWR): So the whole Dave & Buster’s thing…

J.C. Smith (JS): Mhm.

NWR: How that’s moving towards arcades presumably next year. We’ll see how that goes. Was that organized by The Pokémon Company International also?

JS: It was not actually. In fact, I haven’t been involved in that, but I’ve been told that the arcade machine is not coming to the U.S., so I don’t know exactly what the plan is. But that was a long while ago, so who knows what may have changed. You know, you can’t stop someone from buying an arcade system so who knows what’s down the road.

NWR: So last you heard, there were no plans.

JS: Yeah, I haven’t been working closely on the arcade side at all because, really, I never worked on the arcade side but we’ll see. I think that will be handled by Bandai Namco. But I’d have to follow-up with you on that.

We had originally heard from Dave & Buster’s Kevin Bachus that Pokken Tournament would be tested in their arcades. Is that still in the cards? I don’t think anyone can say for certain at this point.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 14 Comments

At the 2015 Pokemon World Championships last weekend, Nintendo World Report asked The Pokemon Company’s J.C. Smith if Pokken Tournament is intended to be the main attraction for the series’ 20th anniversary in early 2016. Smith merely replied by saying no, but after being pressed further, he added the following:

“I’m splitting hairs. No, there’s lots of stuff planned for the 2016 year but nothing I can talk about now.”

During the same discussion, Smith also said that flowers will be important to Pokemon’s future.

It’s completely unknown what The Pokemon Company has planned at this time. As Nintendo World Report also points out, there could be something – or multiple things – that are of equal importance to Pokken Tournament that we’ll be seeing early next year.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 41 Comments

Flowers will apparently be playing a big role in the future of Pokemon. When asked for a tease of what lies ahead for the series, The Pokemon Company director of consumer marketing J.C. Smith pointed to this keyword. Sadly, Smith didn’t share any additional information.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

In hopes of finding out more about the Pokemon Company, Polygon spoke with director of consumer marketing J.C. Smith and spokesperson Rob Novickas. The two discussed the various aspects that make up Pokemon such as animations, card game, and more.

Here’s what Smith said about the Pokemon games and Nintendo’s involvement:

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