[Note: The main text of Pokemon Story is written by freelance author, Kenji Hatakeyama. Masakazu Kubo adds marginal notes at various points throughout the text. The translator has set aside Kubo's text with brackets.]
Using the subject matter of the accidental discovery of Mew, Kubo organized the project three times and succeeded on all three occasions. For video game software, there was no better form of promotional event. Along with the success of these events, Pokémon sales also increased.
"In the beginning, when production was increased, it was only 50,000 units, but the number gradually increased, and this time it was 100,000 units. Then I said, 'Hey, Tajiri, maybe we can make it to one million.'" (Ishihara)
It was in September 1996 that it surpassed that one million mark. This was seven months after its release.
For CoroCoro Comic, this series of Mew gifts had its advantages. At the same time that the image of Pokemon as a special game software became firmly established, the image of CoroCoro Comic as a special presence for Pokemon also became firmly established, and children began to think of CoroCoro Comic as the place to go when it came to Pokemon.
With the publication of exclusive Pokémon information and the development of Pokémon Comics, the circulation of CoroCoro Comic grew with each event. In the midst of this trend, Kubo wanted to give it another push. The impetus came from Ishihara, who told him that there was another version of Pokémon besides Red and Green, just as he had done with Mew. It was a private edition that Tajiri had been working on.
"When Pokemon was first out to some degree, I was still naively thinking that I wanted to expand the world of Pokemon, and as a freebie, I decided to create a color variation, which was not possible in the beginning." (Tajiri)
The Blue version had the same storyline as the Red and Green versions, but the graphics had been redesigned, including the Pokémon's poses, and some of the maps had been changed. There were no plans for what to do with the Blue version after making it, but Tajiri wanted to make a few handmade copies of it and give them to users if he could.
"I was thinking that a ROM handmade with soldering would be fine." (Tajiri)
"Correct. We wanted to give away Blue as a rare item to 20 to 100 people." (Ishihara)
"We wanted to say 'Thank you' or something along those lines." (Tajiri)
For Kubo, the idea of a new version of Pokémon was not as surprising as the appearance of Mew.
"Well, since you have to choose one of three Pokémon, there should be a color corresponding to each one. So when they said, 'There is a Blue version,' and showed it to me, I felt a strong sense of 'ah, I knew it.'"
[First Pokémon]
When you start the game, Dr. Ookido will ask you to choose three Pokémon to take with you on your adventure.
Kubo's mention of choosing one of three Pokémon refers to choosing one of Hitokage, Zenigame, and Fushigidane as the first Pokémon a player takes with them when they start the Red and Green versions of the game. Since these three Pokémon are, respectively, a Fire type, a Water type, and a Grass type Pokémon, he is saying that given that Red and Green correspond to Fire and Grass types, respectively, it is not surprising that there is a Blue version that corresponds to the Water type.
When Kubo heard about the Blue version from Tajiri and Ishihara, he immediately said this.
"It will definitely sell. I'll give the announcement, so let's sell it."
Pokémon was a game through which a total of 158,000 people applied for the Mew giveaway. Kubo's thinking was that there must be at least that level of demand for the Blue version. Conveniently, "Pokémon" had sold more than one million copies, making it the perfect time for a million-piece commemorative project. Kubo immediately thought of the new project and the title of the project page for CoroCoro Comic.
"Commemorating over 1 million units sold of Pokémon Red and Green, a new Blue version is on sale!"
Kubo immediately put together a proposal for Nintendo to release a Blue version of Pokémon as a commemoration of Pokémon selling one million copies and proposed it to Nintendo's side.
For Kubo, this was not unprecedented. This was a special limited edition product project that they had done a lot with mini 4WD. They were confident in their announcement operation. This time, since there was already a Blue version of Pokémon, the involvement was smaller than the previous time when they launched the product project itself. Therefore, Kubo did not intend to be actively involved in the sales of the Blue version of Pokémon beyond exclusively publishing information about it in "Corocoro Comic," for example. Kubo simply wanted to continue the reader/editorial team interactive program in the form of the Mew giveaway, which he had been doing almost every other month since Pokémon's launch.
Nintendo's response, however, was this.
"Would you like to sell the Blue version of Pokemon at Shogakukan? We'll produce and deliver to order."
This was a completely unexpected development for Shogakukan, but here's how it happened.
At Nintendo, Kawaguchi and Yamauchi Katsuhito, who was in the Public Relations Office of the Planning Department at the time, wanted to sell the Blue version.
[Yamauchi Katsuhito]
Acting Director of the Planning Department of the Public Relations Office.
Born on September 27, 1959.
Joined Dentsu Inc. in April 1985.
Joined Nintendo Co. in December 1995.
Moved to the U.S. immediately. After working in Vancouver, he became Manager of the Planning Section of the Planning Department in October 1999. He has been in his current position since June 2000.
"So we both went to the president and proposed the release of the Blue version. The president was against it. The reason was that six months had passed since the release of the Red and Green versions, and users would misunderstand that it was a new version. It is true that the basic game content is the same, except for the different Pokémon artwork."
It is a source of confusion to put such a misleading product on Nintendo's distribution channel. However, Kawaguchi, who really wanted to sell the Blue version, came up with an idea on the spur of the moment.
"It wasn't something I had thought of beforehand, but at that time, I unintentionally mentioned that Shogakukan had proposed selling the Blue version through magazine mail order. If the game is sold through magazine mail order, such as "CoroCoro Comic," it would be possible to clearly state on the application form that the Blue version has different character drawings, but the game content is the same as the Red and Green versions. Besides, if we say that we had no choice because the Shogakukan side requested to let them sell it, it would be an excuse for Nintendo's existing distribution system. I explained this point to the president and told him that we could resolve his concerns."
Hearing this from Kawaguchi, President Yamauchi also reconsidered.
"If that's the case, then maybe it's okay. But you have to make it clear that the artwork is different, but the game itself is the same."
President Yamauchi thus authorized the sale of the Blue version. This was the proposal to Shogakukan as mentioned earlier.
However, as Kawaguchi himself said, "It was a spur-of-the-moment idea," and in fact, Shogakukan was completely unaware of this.
"Still, while talking to the president, I was confident that Mr. Kubo would definitely accept this proposal. So, as soon as the president gave his OK, I called Mr. Kubo and told him, 'The thing is...'"
As Kawaguchi predicted, Kubo accepted the offer.
"Thank you very much. This is the most gratifying offer I have ever received. Please let us do it."
Kubo thanked Kawaguchi because it was an undeniably good deal. From a cynical point of view, this could be seen as a way for Nintendo to avoid the hassle and risk involved in sales, but given the sales performance and growing popularity of Red and Green up to that point, there was no doubt that the product would sell. In fact, Kawaguchi also said this.
"I wanted to give something back to Mr. Kubo. He had been very kind to me up to that point."
It was Kubo who continued to feature Pokémon in "CoroCoro Comic," which had been little anticipated in the industry prior to its release. Kawaguchi wanted to reward him for his contribution. However, even Kawaguchi had only estimated that sales of the Blue version would be around 100,000 units at most. Of course, 100,000 units means several hundred million yen in sales, so it is not a small business. In reality, however, it turned out to be many times larger than that.
When Ishihara was told about this project, he was skeptical about the sales of the third version of the same game.
"We also said, 'I don't know whether we'll sell 30,000 or 50,000 units.'"
It was because they thought it would not sell that both Ishihara and Tajiri considered a handmade ROM gift.
In retrospect, if Kubo had not been there, Shogakukan would have said, "No, no, that's out of the question. We have no intention of getting involved in that kind of thing," and the project would have been dropped. This is because Shogakukan had no experience in this kind of large-scale merchandising.
In fact, the unprecedented project that Kubo received from Kawaguchi to sell game software exclusively through the magazine was not settled smoothly even within Shogakukan. Considering that Shogakukan publishes more than 50 magazines, Kubo was only one of many deputy editors-in-chief. If one of the sub-editors made a prominent move, there would be obstacles in his way, like a nail hammered down. Kubo pushed through the request for approval, somewhat forcefully.
One of the reasons for the approval was that Shogakukan had a wealth of experience in magazine mail-order business, so magazine mail-order itself was unlikely to become a major problem.
In addition, there was also Shogakukan Productions, which was able to handle the entire mail-order business. The next step was to coordinate the other editorial departments, which was made possible by the understanding of Kawai Tsuneyoshi, head of the 9th Editorial Department. Kawai was the manga editor who received the first draft of "Doraemon" for "CoroCoro Comic" from Fujiko Fujio, and he knew the transition of "CoroCoro Comic" since its first issue, and was a good supporter for both "CoroCoro Comic" and Kubo. He took on the task of coordinating large projects across editorial departments within the company, which was a bit too much for the 37-year-old Kubo at the time.
[Kawai Tsuneyoshi]
Director of Shogakukan 9th Editorial Department, Director of Shogakukan Productions and Director of Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment.
Born in 1945, he joined Shogakukan in 1998 and edited grade-specific learning magazines. He became the first editor to receive the manuscript of "Doraemon."
After serving as editor-in-chief of Big Comic Superior, he assumed his current position.
"In various aspects, I am still a young man, after all, so there are times when conflicts arise, but when Mr. Kawai speaks to me from a certain position and with his experience behind him, we often come together." (Kubo)
However, in hindsight, this project to sell the Blue version exclusively in the magazine was a good thing for Shogakukan. Although the number of magazines participating in the project was large, it was a cost-effective project. According to Kubo's estimates, the break-even point is relatively low, so as long as a certain number of copies are produced, the project will be profitable. There is no sales quota. Moreover, according to a survey conducted by "CoroCoro Comic," Pokémon's popularity was indeed on a steady rise, so there was a good chance that they could conversely make a profit. Moreover, if it worked out, it would help revitalize the long declining trend of the school year magazines. In reality, there were many obstacles to overcome, and the project would cost a considerable amount of money and Shogakukan's reputation, but it was such a topical project that it was difficult to find a reason to oppose it.
Once the environment for implementing the campaign was set, Kubo, as the person in charge of execution, put together a concrete scheme. This project was completely unprecedented for both Shogakukan and the video game software industry. This is an exclusive magazine mail-order project involving eight magazines and seven editorial departments, including the monthly "CoroCoro Comic," "Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic," and six grade-specific study magazines from "Shogakusei First Grade" to "Shogakusei Sixth Grade" of the 8th Editorial Department, which publishes Pokemon comics. One cannot get the Blue version of Pokémon unless they subscribe to the magazine mail order service of these eight magazines. There has never been a game software sold in such a way.
"Mr. Ishihara and I made a bet on how many orders we would get. Ishihara predicted 250,000 units and I predicted 300,000 units."
Ishihara's forecast was considerably higher than the earlier figure, but this was probably partly lip service to Kubo. Kubo's figure of 300,000 units was not a sales forecast, but rather a guideline for preparing to receive orders.
"When we asked industry insiders, both inside and outside the company, to predict the number, the lowest number was 50,000 and the highest was 200,000. So, we drew up an operation plan that would allow us to sell 300,000 units with a margin of safety, so that we could smoothly handle everything from reception to home delivery up to 300,000 units."
Product details have also been finalized. While the Red and Green versions were priced at 3,900 yen each without tax, the Blue version was set at a special mail order price of 3,000 yen, including shipping and consumption tax. Furthermore, since the product is targeted mainly at grade school-aged children, the ordering and reception system was designed to allow children to use the mail-order service with peace of mind and to avoid distrust not only of children but also of their guardians, by repeating the announcement clearly and carefully and devising a system to check whether or not their guardians had given their consent.
The exclusive magazine mail-order sales of the Blue version of "Pokémon" began with the issues releasing in October for all eight participating magazines. The start was marked by the November issue of the monthly "CoroCoro Comic" on sale on October 15.
"We started on October 15, and by the 20th, we had sold over 300,000 units. I thought this was a big deal. We ended up selling a little over 600,000 units, but it was not a situation where we could be happy about the number of units sold; our order and shipping system was overflowing within a week. Orders started coming in and out, and shipping started getting delayed. The phones at our editorial office and at ShoPro, the shipping company, were ringing from morning till night. I felt sorry for the children who had been looking forward to receiving the game as Christmas was approaching. From a personal standpoint, I also felt sorry for the part-timer girl who was sitting in front of me. She was bombarded with phone calls of complaints, even though it was her job every day. I can't blame her for thinking, "Why should I be scolded so much?'"
It was not until New Year's 1997, after the year had passed, that the storm passed. Then came the details of the Pokémon mail-order bill.
"Selling 600,000 copies at 3,000 yen each means, well, about 1.8 billion yen. Shogakukan does not sell any magazines that cost that much, so I think they made a record-breaking profit."
The magazine's mail-order sales of the Blue version of Pokemon ended in great success. The total number of Pokémon sold reached 1.6 million at once, and the realization of Tajiri and Ishihara's long-cherished vision of 2 million units was just around the corner.
Furthermore, this success deeply impressed everyone involved with Pokémon and spurred many changes. The success of the Blue version prompted Nintendo to seriously consider new forms of product distribution and sales. The Blue version was sold again the following June 1997 in a limited magazine sale with Shogakukan, where it would also sell 700,000 units. This time, Lawson convenience stores were used to deliver the product. This was a new sales route that was safe, reliable, and low-cost. From then on, a special and limited method of selling Pokemon became firmly established. These results gave Kubo a different perspective on this marketplace mail-order business.
"Now that I think about it, perhaps I was being tested by President Yamauchi. Nintendo's shift to Shogakukan's Blue version could be taken as an indication that they were willing to ignore the existing distribution system, and considering the background of the time when various attempts were being made regarding game distribution, I wondered if I was dancing in Mr. Yamauchi's hands."
It was also an opportunity for Shogakukan and its employee Kubo, who conducted the mail order, to explore a new relationship between the organization and its members. It all started with the issue of outstanding accounts that arose from the Blue version's mail order. At the time the mail-order account was closed, there was a 40 million yen receivable. The Shogakukan accounting department took issue with this, as it was to prevent the accrual of this receivable that it was decided to change the delivery of goods to Lawson for the second Blue version magazine sales the following year.
"It was like, 'Hey, you, there's an over 40 million yen receivable.' I almost lost my temper. This was a different level of response from Shogakukan Productions, which offered rewards even to part-time workers." (Kubo)
Out of 1.8 billion yen in sales, 40 million yen in uncollected sales is a little more than 2%. Although the amount is large, it is not a bad figure for the yield rate of the mail order business. That is not to say that 40 million yen is a good thing since the company made a profit, but if this were a trading company, for example, the company's response to Kubo would have been different.
Mail order is not a traditional business, such as editing for a publishing company, but a business of commerce. Shogakukan stood its employees, the editors, on that vein and made a profit. And yet, once the project was over, they returned to the face of the publishing company and tried to pin the scorched-earth sales proceeds, which were negligible in terms of the profits earned, on Kubo alone. Perhaps neither Kubo nor Shogakukan realized at the time how big a step they were taking, but it was a step that had such a strong impact that it changed the nature of the publishing business. It is no wonder that, beginning with the Pokemon mail-order business, a series of firsts for Shogakukan occurred one after another.
Kubo had no intention of using the success of this mail-order business to unsettle the company. All he wanted was for the company to give him immediate and fair recognition for the work he had done.
"Shogakukan is a company that has a very strong sense of family and treats its employees like brothers and sisters. Therefore, it is comfortable, but there is a startlingly strong sense of impartiality. Even if some of them have good grades in school, you don't usually make a difference in allowance between siblings, do you?" (Kubo)
Shogakukan management apparently spent a great deal of time discussing how to deal with Kubo, the employee who had caused this unprecedented situation, and the significance of the company's own Pokémon mail-order program. Then, after the Blue version was sold through the magazine the following year a second time, at the company's anniversary celebration, Kubo was given the President's Award and a gift of money contained in an envelope. There have only been a few employees who have received such an award since the founding of Shogakukan.
The significance of Kubo's commendation was that Shogakukan endorsed Kubo's actions that went beyond the boundaries of an editor, and officially announced internally and externally that he himself had the potential to incorporate new businesses outside of the traditional publishing house framework. From that moment on, Kubo became a special employee for Shogakukan, for better or worse, as his actions became the first precedent for Shogakukan as it was. Of course, this happened because of Pokémon, but at the same time, it also happened because Kubo was in charge.
Kubo's positions have increased with each passing year since the launch of Pokémon, and they continue to increase even now. To make it easier for you to understand what I am about to tell you, here is a summary of his positions as of November 2000.
Shogakukan 9th Editorial Department, Deputy General Manager
Shogakukan Character Planning Office, Chief
Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment (SMDE), Director and General Producer
Shogakukan Productions (ShoPro), Media Division General Producer
Yoshimoto Digital Entertainment, Producer
The above titles are not honorary positions. All are accompanied by practical work. And most of the titles are actually newly established by Shogakukan to accommodate the growth of the Pokémon business. Kubo's presence and the Pokémon business that he brought in succession forced Shogakukan, one of Japan's oldest and largest publishers founded in 1922, to undergo a major internal transformation.
[Shogakukan's projects for children]
Shogakukan has toddler magazines up to "Mommy," "Baby Book," "Ohisama," "Mebae," "Kindergarten," and "Gakushu Kindergarten," and learning magazines by grade from 1st to 6th grade. In addition, there are magazines for boys such as "TV-kun," "CoroCoro Comic," "Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic," "Comic GOTTA," and "CIAO." These 15 magazines closely cover for readers from ages 0 to 15. Shogakukan has a long history of focusing on children's magazines, so we are truly attentive to children's projects. Plans must be properly explained not only to the children who read them but also to their parents and guardians, or they will not be approved by the company.
Since the Blue version for this project was a mail order project that had children buying something, preparations were especially careful.
However, the orders received in a short period of time far exceeded the originally planned 300,000 units, and both the PC system for searching addresses and the order management system were down due to overload.
Readers tended to inquire whether theirs is ready when Pokémon Blue arrived to a child next door who applied at about the same time. Of course, here we send out the product in the order the applications arrive, but readers are not easily convinced. The staff member answering the phone was crammed every day with questions of why it arrived to the child next door who submitted the application on the same day, but not at their house.
There was no other way but to sincerely apologize. However, I remember that no matter how much I apologized, they often did not understand. This proves that the appeal of Pokemon Blue was that strong. I could easily imagine children complaining while on the verge of crying over the telephone mouthpiece.
Shogakukan's thoughts on this project were, of course, positive evaluation for selling a large number of copies, but because of the many grievances, the atmosphere was not one of being able to rejoice without restraint. That is how important the culture of trust from parents and children is to Shogakukan.
After this, there was an incident in the broadcast of the cartoon, and Pokemon faced a major crisis, but I am sure that this nature of Shogakukan was conveyed to the viewers. I believe that because this culture was understood, there were several warm cheers for the resumption of the broadcast.