The Pokémon Company, the entity responsible for the popular Nintendo video game franchise, has posted a job listing for a Corporate Development Principal with deep knowledge and understanding of Web3, including blockchain technologies, NFTs, and metaverse. The new hire will advise the company’s leadership on strategy and explore new innovations.
The Pokémon Company is yet to make any moves in the Web3 space, and the job listing does not provide clear indications of the company’s potential moves, whether it’s NFTs or a blockchain-based game. However, the role points to someone who can push innovation in the company, which oversees a vast array of games, media, and merchandise spun out of the franchise, including console and mobile games, TV shows, movies, toys and apparel, and other projects and tie-ins.
With the monster-collecting premise of the Pokémon franchise, NFT-based games, or even collectible digital assets, could be an ideal fit. Other teams have already tried their hand at such a concoction, but with misfires along the way. The most famous unofficial example, Pixelmon, sold $70 million worth of NFTs early last year before revealing artwork that was widely mocked.
Nintendo’s President sees great potential in the idea of the metaverse, but he added that the company is in no rush to create games for the metaverse. Meanwhile, the developer of the smash mobile game Pokémon Go, Niantic, is leaning into what it calls a “real-world metaverse” of games based on augmented reality. Niantic has also created a platform that other companies can use for NFT-driven experiences, such as the music metaverse game Elynixr from Pixelynx, a studio co-founded by electronic musician Deadmau5.
Conclusion
The Pokémon Company is looking for a Corporate Development Principal with a deep understanding of Web3 to explore new innovations and push innovation in the 24-year-old company behind the world’s most valuable entertainment franchise. While the job listing does not provide a clear sense of potential moves in Web3, the monster-collecting premise of the Pokémon franchise could be an ideal fit for NFT-based games or collectible digital assets. With Niantic and other developers leaning into the metaverse, it remains to be seen what Web3 moves The Pokémon Company will make.
