Pokémon Company and Universal Announce Partnership

[JungleSkip]

Certainly! Announcing something and then 5 years for anything to come out of it is poor form.

I disagree there. It's the nature of the beast when you're announcing a partnership well before there's anything concrete to actually get working on. It's the nature of corporate agreements, especially when (at the time) Nintendo was looking for any business boost it could get

 

[Nick]

I disagree there. It's the nature of the beast when you're announcing a partnership well before there's anything concrete to actually get working on. It's the nature of corporate agreements, especially when (at the time) Nintendo was looking for any business boost it could get

Same thing happened with Disney and Avatar at the time.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Well I hope it works out

Pokemon would be a great fit for the theme parks world wide

 

[Living Dead Dude]

It’s way to soon but seeing a interactive attraction to catch Pokémon and just sell merch in Shrek 4D space would be amazing and could be expanded more at a future date in kidzone area

 

[Disneyhead]

A city park like area that if you rent the super cool LPS AR sunglasses and wrist shooter, becomes a RL Pokemon Go game would be a good test.

 

[Legacy]

Villain Con walk-through shooting gallery -> Professor Oak’s PokeLab Open House

 

[quinnmac000]

Pokemon Go fest doesn't work in small spaces like the parks. Two many people on a cell service packed in a small area and those who use the xfinity wifi will overwhelm the system. That was the issue they learned for Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago...

What they will likely do is bring the Pokemon World festival from Korea which included a walkthrough attraction, a battle simulator, and a Pikachu show and parade.

 

[Legacy]

Pokemon Go fest doesn't work in small spaces like the parks. Two many people on a cell service packed in a small area and those who use the xfinity wifi will overwhelm the system. That was the issue they learned for Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago...

What they will likely do is bring the Pokemon World festival from Korea which included a walkthrough attraction, a battle simulator, and a Pikachu show and parade.

Is that why they did a survey about a Pokémon Go fest?

 

[quinnmac000]

Is that why they did a survey about a Pokémon Go fest?

They have done surveys about My Little Pony too...doesn't necessarily translate to the parks.

 

[Alicia]

Pretty sure if covid didn’t happen we were very close to an event at UOR.

 

[Viator]

I'm posting this here, because there is no better place for it; and I am going to give..a visual (Shoutout to @Alicia here).



So, imagine this is used for Pokemon, what exactly would it be used for? Beyond the land of which the IP could be based upon, imagine what could happen if every singular major resort in the UPR chain, implements this into their parks, with a massive pokedex that ranges depending on which park you go towards.

That could, allow Universal Parks and Resorts, and Comcast, to create a full on reason, to incentivize and outright force, people to plan mutliple trips to parks such as Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Beijing, and even Universal Studios Singapore, because if they want to complete the pokedex made for the parks? You gotta go to the parks, and plan out your trips to accomodate it.

If they do this, and if they follow the patents as we see, this could result in what might be one of the biggest merchandising pulls since that, of the Wands from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A genuine, massive chance, to profitize off of that lustrious desire, to catch them all.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I'm posting this here, because there is no better place for it; and I am going to give..a visual (Shoutout to @Alicia here).



So, imagine this is used for Pokemon, what exactly would it be used for? Beyond the land of which the IP could be based upon, imagine what could happen if every singular major resort in the UPR chain, implements this into their parks, with a massive pokedex that ranges depending on which park you go towards.

That could, allow Universal Parks and Resorts, and Comcast, to create a full on reason, to incentivize and outright force, people to plan mutliple trips to parks such as Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Beijing, and even Universal Studios Singapore, because if they want to complete the pokedex made for the parks? You gotta go to the parks, and plan out your trips to accomodate it.

If they do this, and if they follow the patents as we see, this could result in what might be one of the biggest merchandising pulls since that, of the Wands from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A genuine, massive chance, to profitize off of that lustrious desire, to catch them all.

Holy crap I never even thought of this..... m

Mario and Pokemon are how they become, and I’m sorry for the comparison, more “Disney”, in the sense they’re very much so an international theme park resort destination across the board. Not trying to overstate but, Nintendo and Pokémon fans are loyal.

 

[Rhian]

Yu-Gi-Oh confirmed!

So, imagine this is used for Pokemon, what exactly would it be used for?

Putting together the pieces in that patent with Pokémon it's not difficult to think it could be for a theme park version of Gym Badges, where "token" is really a "badge" and that each guest could wear the gym badges they acquire from gyms. They could rotate the gyms seasonally or monthly, meaning repeat visits would be required to collect them all.

Having beaten a gym and earning the token/badge then grants you access other parts of the gym with others who've beaten it as well. Perhaps this could also be an area with exclusive merchandise or virtual items that would be placed on your token/badge.

The battle component mentioned also lends itself to Pokémon battles readily as both in the game and anime you have to beat the Gym Leader to earn the badge from that particular gym. Those badges also come with an additional component in the games where Pokémon will obey you up to a certain level, so if we're collecting "items" (read: Pokémon), theoretically as you level up your Pokémon you also need to make sure you have the correct number of badges so they they will listen to your commands accurately during battles. Mixing projection mapping, AR, and/or musion technology in the right way could bring those battles to life (that 'hero' versus 'villain' portion could totally apply to 'Pokémon Trainer' versus 'Gym Leader'). I'm not sure how practical it would be in terms of throughput with what would no doubt be a high-demand experience but it's definitely fun to think about.

The other component of this patent where two guests can go to the "interactive token station" can be used for trading Pokémon. In both the games and the anime, trainers would go to a Trade Machine (the link has several images as examples, which is very doable within a theme park) where they each place their Poké Ball in the machine to make the trade. Place your Poké Ball token on the kiosk, select which Pokémon you'd like to use for the trade, and then initiate it. For those unaware, some Pokémon only evolve through trading so for completionists it will be must-do if they want to complete their Pokédex.

Really this is a very fascinating patent overall and Pokémon can utilize it very well, though how much of that becomes reality is up in the air.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I would love rides/shows/attractions/raids that you can train Pokemon and use them...think it would be very addicting

 

[quinnmac000]

I'm posting this here, because there is no better place for it; and I am going to give..a visual (Shoutout to @Alicia here).



So, imagine this is used for Pokemon, what exactly would it be used for? Beyond the land of which the IP could be based upon, imagine what could happen if every singular major resort in the UPR chain, implements this into their parks, with a massive pokedex that ranges depending on which park you go towards.

That could, allow Universal Parks and Resorts, and Comcast, to create a full on reason, to incentivize and outright force, people to plan mutliple trips to parks such as Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Beijing, and even Universal Studios Singapore, because if they want to complete the pokedex made for the parks? You gotta go to the parks, and plan out your trips to accomodate it.

If they do this, and if they follow the patents as we see, this could result in what might be one of the biggest merchandising pulls since that, of the Wands from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A genuine, massive chance, to profitize off of that lustrious desire, to catch them all.

Universal already tested this concept 3-4 years ago in Japan with Yokai Watch.....they used watches that would read tokens for an attraction involving a popular kids video game in the park. This patent is an expansion on that and yes the IP was similar to pokemon.

You are looking small picture...big picture..that patent is making Universal a lot of money as its tech that everyone will want for use even outside theme parks.

 

[Rhian]

Thanks for the lead on that, @quinnmac000. Japan gets a lot of interesting things don't they? They even had a show for it (there's a fan-made English translation here.):




For anyone interested there's a page here that describes the events USJ had. What's found here is similar to what's found in the patent. There's a couple of other links with photos from around the park showing off the tech, although the page is in Japanese naturally.

【写真満載】USJ「妖怪ウォッチ・ザ・リアル」最速体験レポ! マジでリアルに妖怪ゲットだニャン - Medery. Character's

ユニバーサル・スタジオ・ジャパンで7月3日（金）から9月6日（日）まで開催される「妖怪ウォッチ・ザ・リアル」。この夏最注目の妖怪ウォッチイベントをたっぷりご紹介します。

ure.pia.co.jp

【USJ】ジバニャンと友達になれるリアル体験! 「ユニバーサル・妖怪ウォッチ・フェスティバル」に親子で大興奮【写真満載】 - ハピママ*

2017年1月9日（月・祝）までユニバーサル・スタジオ・ジャパンで開催中の「ユニバーサル・妖怪ウォッチ・フェスティバル」。大人気の妖怪やパークオリジナル妖怪とリアルに友達になれる親子に人気のイベントを徹底紹介! 人気アトラクションの入場方法もご紹介します。

ure.pia.co.jp

I don't believe this means Pokémon wouldn't being an option, but I also can't really think of what other IP they might use it for as far as in-park use within the US; Yo-Kai isn't really known enough to bring it over I would think. Licensing the technology does sound lucrative though.

that patent is making Universal a lot of money as its tech that everyone will want for use even outside theme parks.

Are they already licensing it out?

 

[Nico]

I don't believe this means Pokémon wouldn't being an option, but I also can't really think of what other IP they might use it for as far as in-park use within the US; Yo-Kai isn't really known enough to bring it over I would think. Licensing the technology does sound lucrative though.


Are they already licensing it out?

Maybe it’s how the patent reads, or how Alicia titled the breakdown - but I really feel like this not going to be IP specific. I feel like it could have use in each land, but it’s more about its use throughout the whole park. One of the sections of the patent Alicia pointed to talked about getting rewards for hitting every area of the park.

It feels like a combo of wands, magic bands, Tapu, the Phineas and Ferb game, and collecting.

 

[Alicia]

Maybe it’s how the patent reads, or how Alicia titled the breakdown - but I really feel like this not going to be IP specific. I feel like it could have use in each land, but it’s more about its use throughout the whole park. One of the sections of the patent Alicia pointed to talked about getting rewards for hitting every area of the park.

It feels like a combo of wands, magic bands, Tapu, the Phineas and Ferb game, and collecting.

It could be anything. It reads to me as something that was purposely overloaded with extra descriptive features in the patent to throw us off the scent! It does toooo much

 

[Nico]

It could be anything. It reads to me as something that was purposely overloaded with extra descriptive features in the patent to throw us off the scent! It does toooo much

I remember watching your video and about halfway through, I thought, “Are we living in the future?”

 

[Rhian]

Maybe it’s how the patent reads, or how Alicia titled the breakdown - but I really feel like this not going to be IP specific. I feel like it could have use in each land, but it’s more about its use throughout the whole park. One of the sections of the patent Alicia pointed to talked about getting rewards for hitting every area of the park.

It feels like a combo of wands, magic bands, Tapu, the Phineas and Ferb game, and collecting.

You're definitely not wrong, and thinking it over it could even be something that ties in the universe theme from the central hub of EU (don't we go through a portal for each land?). Scan your token at each gateway.

It could be anything. It reads to me as something that was purposely overloaded with extra descriptive features in the patent to throw us off the scent! It does toooo much

You could say that the possibilities are EPIC.