The Pokemon Company has drawn the ire and attention of many, with a new job posting that is actively seeking employees with experience in uncharted territory for the Pokemon franchise. The hiring page shows that The Pokemon Company International wants to hire staff that has "deep knowledge and understanding of Web 3, [...] blockchain technologies, NFT, and/or metaverse. They also appear to be looking for someone who can "connect the relevance of potential partners or technologies with Pokemon's existing assets", which has fans dramatically split between unease and excitement for what this might mean for the future.

The Pokemon Company isn't the first, and definitely won't be the last, in terms of businesses trying to incorporate elements of the blockchain into the video game industry. Despite harsh criticism in the past, Square Enix is still committed to pushing the idea of NFT games. Regardless, outside of the hiring page, nothing involving NFTs has been announced from The Pokemon Company, for now.

Pokémon company posted a job opening that encompasses Blockchain, NFT’s and Web3 technologies.

Oh no, please no 😨 pic.twitter.com/p0XrH0Eat3

— Pory (@pory_leeks) March 12, 2023

 

[Jayro]

how about invest these resources into moving from the lazy 3ds era? most selled franchise yet they are lazy with their games....

3DS hasn't gotten a new game since gen 7, so what are you talking about?

 

[jesus96]

3DS hasn't gotten a new game since gen 7, so what are you talking about?

lazy 3ds animations,for real move on from that even n64 had better battle animations

 

[Dyhr]

The Pokemon Company is looking to hire people in industries notorious for theft and scamming that have never once proven to be popular among anyone who matters to a market (read: people with money) and that have never proven to draw the slightest iota of a profit from the few people who stupidly believe.

Wow.

 

[Naxster]

Is NFT still even a thing?

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

No Fucking Thanks.

Take your Non-Functional Trash out of here.

 

[JonJaded]

I know why. They want a blockchain like element to their pokemon distro. Essentailly to kick out anyone using mods. It, kinda makes sense?

 

[Jayro]

I know why. They want a blockchain like element to their pokemon distro. Essentailly to kick out anyone using mods. It, kinda makes sense?

Seems expensive and overkill. Unless there's a simpler way than a full-on NFT generation. Maybe NFT Jr? Something that gens on a smaller scale, but less time/power consuming and less complex overall?

 

[tabzer]

Pokemon from every generation that's been internet connected could be already connected to an NFT and people would be none the wiser. NFT could just be another layer that requires internet connection and completely optional. Everyone knows that this is going to be profitable.

 

[Foxi4]

I thought there were at least two (though one seemed more concerned with being a filthy hippy and complaining about power usage).

I think I’m at the stage of just supporting a straight-up Pollute-coin that exists solely to destroy the environment, something that accurately tracks just how many trees were felled and how much ash was jettisoned into the atmosphere for the purposes of me buying a lollipop. I don’t know how the powers that be convinced the average consumer that crypto consumes more energy than *banking*, the latter involving physical locations, ATM’s, truckloads of servers (that do more or less the same thing) and so on and so forth, but it worked. People are worried about the estimated energy usage of Bitcoin (pegged at around 121TWh of energy annually), but don’t even blink when global banking goes through approximately x50 that figure. Can’t be helped, I suppose.

 

[Axido]

Ten years ago they had the chance to go with NFC and it would have sold like hotcakes. What did they do? They released a bunch of low poly figurines that were solely compatible with Pokémon Rumble U. Screw those NFT scams and give us a Pokémon equivalent of those Animal Crossing amiibo cards. And then make it store Pokémon information that transfers over to newer games. That would have been a much more compelling and profitable idea than charging subscription fees for Pokémon Home...

 

[Foxi4]

Ten years ago they had the chance to go with NFC and it would have sold like hotcakes. What did they do? They released a bunch of low poly figurines that were solely compatible with Pokémon Rumble U. Screw those NFT scams and give is a Pokémon equivalent of those Animal Crossing amiibo cards. And then make it store Pokémon information that transfers over to newer games. That would have been a much more compelling and profitable idea than charging subscription fees for Pokémon Home...

I mean, you say that, but Amiibo went gangbusters and remains the only “toys-to-life” range that’s still actively supported (and even occasionally sees a new release in ridiculously limited quantities). Skylanders are dead, Lego Dimensions is dead, StarLink never even had a chance to take off. The market’s cooked, and now that the dust has settled, Nintendo’s implementation is the only one that stuck around (for better or worse).

 

[Axido]

I mean, you say that, but Amiibo went gangbusters and remains the only “toys-to-life” range that’s still actively supported (and even occasionally sees a new release in ridiculously limited quantities). Skylanders are dead, Lego Dimensions is dead, StarLink never even had a chance to take off. The market’s cooked, and now that the dust has settled, Nintendo’s implementation is the only one that stuck around (for better or worse).

Maybe my phrasing is to blame here, but I am with you on this one. Amiibo does it right somehow. What keeps it alive is the continuous support in various games, not limited to one particular genre unlike the other ones you mentioned. The Amiibo formula might work with Pokémon just as well if you could bring your favourite Pokémon to multiple games just by scanning them. But, as I mentioned, they didn't pull through with this idea and just made those 30...-ish Rumble NFC figurines. Back then I would have loved to just get something more substantial... at least more of them and compatibility with more than one single game. And once the support ends for good, you still have toys of your favourite Pokémon. That would be something I'd willingly pay for, but not for some digital certificate stating that a Pokémon may be mine, being useful just as long as some server is running.

 

[DBlaze]

blockchain pokemon tgc nft's
calling it now
(i didn't read 6 pages so maybe someone mentioned that already)
but this would print them money most likely because pokemon
can you imagine a single nft "print" of those wanted charizards? good god

 

[Dyhr]

blockchain pokemon tgc nft's
calling it now
(i didn't read 6 pages so maybe someone mentioned that already)
but this would print them money most likely because pokemon
can you imagine a single nft "print" of those wanted charizards? good god

presses Print Screen
yay now I have your super ultra hyper mega ultimate turbo rare Charizard

 

[Atomyiik]

I almost forgot NFTs are a thing...

 

[Foxi4]

Maybe my phrasing is to blame here, but I am with you on this one. Amiibo does it right somehow. What keeps it alive is the continuous support in various games, not limited to one particular genre unlike the other ones you mentioned. The Amiibo formula might work with Pokémon just as well if you could bring your favourite Pokémon to multiple games just by scanning them. But, as I mentioned, they didn't pull through with this idea and just made those 30...-ish Rumble NFC figurines. Back then I would have loved to just get something more substantial... at least more of them and compatibility with more than one single game. And once the support ends for good, you still have toys of your favourite Pokémon. That would be something I'd willingly pay for, but not for some digital certificate stating that a Pokémon may be mine, being useful just as long as some server is running.

I actually own a Darkrai Rumble figure, though I should say “I used to”, or “it used to be a figure”, since the damn thing broke almost immediately - it works, but it’s in two pieces. I think Nintendo went three different ways when it comes to NFC - they had the low-cost “blind bag style” Rumble figs, the “TCG-style” Amiibo cards and the high quality “display-style” Amiibo figs, and that was a key to feeling the market out. The crap quality Rumble figs were by far the worst of all. As for Skylanders, they actually had widespread support and did some interesting things, but eventually interest simply fizzled out - it’s just one franchise compared to the behemoth of Nintendo.

 

[sombrerosonic]

Don't screenshot my charizard, i paid my hole life saving for it

 

[SylverReZ]

Don't screenshot my charizard, i paid my hole life saving for it

Use screenshot. It was super effective.

 

[tabzer]

I actually own a Darkrai Rumble figure, though I should say “I used to”, or “it used to be a figure”, since the damn thing broke almost immediately - it works, but it’s in two pieces. I think Nintendo went three different ways when it comes to NFC - they had the low-cost “blind bag style” Rumble figs, the “TCG-style” Amiibo cards and the high quality “display-style” Amiibo figs, and that was a key to feeling the market out. The crap quality Rumble figs were by far the worst of all. As for Skylanders, they actually had widespread support and did some interesting things, but eventually interest simply fizzled out - it’s just one franchise compared to the behemoth of Nintendo.

Helps that Nintendo is a platform vs only a publisher. NFT can transcend platform support, so at least there's that.

 

[Kwyjor]

Really now, one of these things is not like the other. Or has "metaverse" somehow become inextricably entwined with "blockchain" at some point?

This has nothing to do with Pokemon trying to get into NFTs or whatever; this is a job posting that is clearly the product of some deep cluelessness somewhere in the hierarchy. Or, more likely, they just wanted to set the Internet a-quiver and see what shook out. And if they're smart, they will end up hiring someone who ensures that they steer away from any such things until they finally fizzle out for good.

Okay, so Metabook and NFTs are definitely going separate ways.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23638572/instagram-nft-meta-facebook-quits-digital-collectibles

It's like they said they were trying to hire someone with knowledge of ... hamburgers and sushi, and everyone's suddenly obsessed over what sort of grill they're going to buy.