Icons (2022 TV series)/Episode 5 transcript

Introduction
Narrator: "On the heels of a series of doomed franchises..."

Johnny Yong Bosch: "It was a really crucial time for Level-5."

Narrator: "A phenomenon was born."

Heidi Kemps: "And they really wanted a global hit, so they put out Yo-kai Watch."

Narrator: "It survived an executive's death..."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "His death pretty much shocked everyone, both at Nintendo and Level-5."

Narrator: "...and saved a company."

Stephanie Cheng: "Retailers called us in week 2 or 3 saying, 'We're out of stock! We're out of stock! We have to have more software, people are banging down our doors!'"

Narrator: "But the phenomenon was short lived."

AbdallahSmash026: "And then it just stopped. I mean, it was just silent. Copies of Yo-kai Watch 1 and 2 sat on store shelves..."

Narrator: "This is the story of Yo-kai Watch.

AbdallahSmash026: "Here was a handheld RPG series that was new, that was different...

Part I
Narrator: "In August 2008, Level-5, a Japanese RPG publisher and developer, launches its Inazuma Eleven franchise on the Nintendo DS."

Johnny Yong Bosch - Voice Actor: "Inazuma Eleven launched with great fanfare due to Japan's love affair with soccer. But they only released it in Europe due to the popularity of the FIFA series, which is basically a FIFA soccer simulator from EA."

Abdallah "AbdallahSmash026" Elayan - YouTube Personality: "It actually did quite well in Japan. In fact, it was their first mixed-media initiative."

Narrator: "Thanks to the game's popularity in its home country, Inazuma Eleven later gets an anime adaptation airing on weekend mornings."

Johnny Yong Bosch: "In Japan, Inazuma Eleven was a phenomenon beyond anything that can be compared to in the United States, nothing can compare to how big it is or was there. And to make an anime adaptation in the spirit of Pokémon was a pretty bold, intelligent move on their part."

AbdallahSmash026: "In Japan, weekend morning cartoons were so hot. Obviously, they've been dead in America for a long time. But in Japan, having a weekend morning hit meant something. So the Inazuma Eleven anime was a weekend morning hit."

Narrator: "The franchise does not catch on outside of Japan, and is only given a digital release on the 3DS in North America."

Reggie Fils-Aimé - Former President, Nintendo of America: "Inazuma Eleven launched in North America... I believe in the Summer of 2014, which was six years too late in my opinion. It was also given a digital only release. I believe it was only available on the eShop. And Level-5 doesn't do a very good job marketing games on their own. And as everybody knows, if you want your game to succeed, you have to have good marketing.

Stephanie Cheng - Former Level-5 Executive: "Inazuma Eleven did well in Europe, but not enough to really engage gamers."

Akihiro Hino - Founder, Level-5, Inc. (in Japanese): "The Inazuma Eleven franchise was pretty big among the hardcore gamer and Otaku crowds. With the mass audience crowd, it wasn't quite as popular but it was still a big name."

AbdallahSmash026: "Level-5 was in a really difficult position, in that they had extended themselves... in fact, they had overextended themselves. There was a time prior to Yo-kai Watch, just a few years prior to Yo-kai Watch really - the first Inazuma Eleven had just come out, where they had Professor Layton games still being made, they had numerous Inazuma Eleven games coming out, and the latter had games coming out concurrently. They had really gotten themselves into a rut. They completely botched the Inazuma launch in North America."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "I believe when we look at Inazuma Eleven, it was a franchise that should have launched in the US when it was new. In my opinion at least, although soccer is still pretty much a niche sport, people still like it. FIFA is a perfect example of this. If it launched at the right time, it might have had its audience."

Narrator: Inazuma's botched overseas launch - as well as poor sales of the first Ni no Kuni game almost cause Level-5's bankruptcy."

AbdallahSmash026: "Level-5 always strives for quality in their games, but the quality sometimes didn't translate to sales."

Narrator: "Level-5's solution is to begin work on a new mixed-media initiative. And this time, the Osaka-based company is determined to learn from its past mistakes."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "Well, they had really established themselves as a company with us at Nintendo, and gained our confidence, despite their failures outside of Japan."

Narrator: "Level-5 hopes to earn more credibility with their mixed media franchises, and makes a surprise announcement at the Tokyo Game Show in 2011."

AbdallahSmash026: "What the company later announced was an IP - starting with a game for the 3DS - where you befriended and trained Youkai, which are basically ghosts and monsters in Japanese folklore. There have been plenty of games and anime that used youkai as their influences; like a show called GeGeGe no Kitaro from Toei Animation for example. And the gameplay looked as it was like the Pokémon series, but instead of one monster against another, it's three youkai against three others."

Narrator: "Along with the unique concept comes a unique name, Yo-kai Watch."

Stephanie Cheng: "I was completely excited about the prospect of competing with the Pokémon franchise. Because, it was clear that we had struggled with franchises that were not Professor Layton.

Heidi Kemps - IGN: "Level-5 had been struggling outside of Professor Layton, and they really wanted a global hit, so they put out Yo-kai Watch right before Pokémon X and Y came out."

Narrator: 'But, would gamers trust Level-5 after all of their past mistakes?"

Johnny Yong Bosch: "Definitely, what Level-5 was trying to incorporate into Yo-kai Watch, what they learned from Inazuma Eleven, was a broad audience. They were trying to make this a franchise for everybody. And they were really shifting gears. It was a really crucial time for Level-5."

Stephanie Cheng: "But, it was also clear that the company had every intent of joining the battle. And we were ready to join the battle."

Part II
Narrator: "On July 11, 2013, Yo-kai Watch is made a reality to the Japanese gaming public."

Abdallah "AbdallahSmash026" Elayan - YouTube Personality: "The game started off slow. But once the TV show premiered one year later, January in this case, it got big. I mean really big. There was a merchandising bonanza. Yo-kai Watch stores started opening all over the place, movies were being made... It became a cultural phenomenon."

Doug Bowser - President, Nintendo of America: "The Yo-kai Watch franchise impacted Nintendo Japan pretty greatly. We talk about Pokémon being a huge hit in Japan in the '90s. They saw something... pretty familiar with Yo-kai in the 2010s."

Narrator: "But, the franchise's popularity - which skyrockets with the release of Yo-kai Watch 2 in 2014 - isn't without its problems. Due to a shortage of Yo-kai medals, Level-5 fails to meet the demand for toys and merchandise."

AbdallahSmash026: "So, with Yo-kai Watch, Level-5 missed their first window of opportunity. Because Bandai had the toy license in Japan, and made the Yo-kai medals. And there weren't enough medals available for the 2014 holiday season. A lot of people ended up having the game, but not the medals compatible with it."

Akihiro Hino - Founder, Level-5, Inc. (in Japanese): "The popularity of Yo-kai Watch clearly had its hurdles, but it was enough of a phenomenon - enough actually to overtake Pokémon - that we decided to expand the franchise to markets such as Europe and North America in hopes it would be big outside of Japan as well. We were ready to start something really strong here."

Heidi Kemps - IGN: "It was the next big franchise to come from Level-5 after Professor Layton. Level-5 had been struggling outside of Professor Layton, and they really wanted a global hit, so they put out Yo-kai Watch right before Pokémon X and Y came out."

Narrator: "With the US launch still just a year away, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé takes note of the mistakes made by Level-5."

Reggie Fils-Aimé - Former President, Nintendo of America: "And I was interested in following the Pokémon-style path to success. Because, this was unlike anything Japan had ever seen at the time. And our hope was it would be as big in western markets as it was in Asia. And I believe that the team at Nintendo did a good job trying their hardest."

AbdallahSmash026: "What I can say about Reggie Fils-Aimé is he did a lot of things really really right. You compare the Japanese launch of the Yo-kai Watch to the US launch of Yo-kai Watch, Reggie had his team in place at Nintendo, as well as toy partners like Hasbro and the Disney-owned kids' network Disney XD. He had the publicity in place, he had the enthusiasts rallied so they were excited..."

Narrator: "While Level-5 is poised to have Yo-kai Watch take the US by storm, The Pokémon Company is set to shake up its namesake brand."

AbdallahSmash026: "At every moment with Yo-kai Watch, there was the shadow of this unshown thing, the shadow of Pokémon GO just loomed large right over them."

Akihiri Hino (Japanese): "In the beginning, there was a lot of excitement overseas for Yo-kai Watch. But as time went on, more and more attention went over to Pokémon GO."

AbdallahSmash026: I mean, as early as September in 2015, really just a few months later, Tsunekaru Ishihara unveiled Pokémon GO. It was a smartphone game based on a Japanese IP everybody knows, so it was going to easily overshadow Yo-kai Watch.

Stephanie Cheng - Former Level-5 Executive: "The Pokémon Company was very effective in holding out that promise to Pokémon fans. I think to a certain extent, they succeeded in convincing their existing fanbase not to get Yo-kai Watch for the 3DS and to wait for this mythical VR smartphone game to come out."

Narrator: "The first Yo-kai Watch game excites American gamers, with pre-orders for the game reaching 200,000."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "Well, they had really established themselves as a company with us at Nintendo, and gained our confidence, despite their failures outside of Japan."

AbdallahSmash026: "And they were really aggressive, pushing the idea of Yo-kai Watch. There was a lot of excitement about a new monster-catching IP being imported from Japan at that moment."

Narrator: "Turning back the clock to July 2015, the team at Nintendo is dealt an unexpected blow."

AbdallahSmash026: "Three months before the game launched, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata died."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "Iwata lost a battle with bile duct cancer. His death pretty much shocked everyone, both at Nintendo and Level-5... really shocked us. But, that didn't stop us from helping this game succeed. Our team was in place. They were ready to go, they were ready to drive the product. And they did."

Narrator: "The Yo-kai Watch juggernaut can't be derailed, and the game launched in the US on November 6, 2015 for $29.99."

Chris Slate - Host, Nintendo Power podcast: "I think what made the first Yo-kai Watch so great was really the gameplay. Unlike Pokémon, where you battle your one Pokémon against another, you battle three youkai against three others. Whenever you get into a battle with a Yokai, the ones you have in your immediate party - up to a maximum of 6 - will be shown on the bottom screen on a wheel. Three will be designated to your front row (top three), while the others are put into the back row and can be switched Before the battle officially begins, you can choose the three participating Yokai by rotating the wheel and then pressing the “Fight” button in the middle of the wheel. Now, instead of inputting commands, like many traditional games, the Yokai will automatically fight on their own, choosing one of four different commands. They can use a regular Attack, perform a Technique, Defend or Inspirit."

Narrator: "Despite not meeting expectations, Yo-kai Watch gets the franchise off to a promising start in the US, selling at least 400,000 units."

Reggie Fils-Aimé: "The launch was successful, Level-5 was successful, and it helped gain the confidence of both the retail community and the consumer."

Stephanie Cheng: "We knew it was a tremendously successful launch when retailers called us in week 2 or 3 saying, 'We're out of stock! We're out of stock! We have to have more software, people are banging down our doors!"

AbdallahSmash026: The marketing teams at Nintendo, Hasbro, and Disney tried to do everything they could to push this franchise, and did a good job at it. Disney, through its Disney XD channel promoted the show like crazy, Hasbro promoted the hell out of the toys. Nintendo, however, did the biggest push of all with the original game. Ads were everywhere pushing it, even in movie theaters. All three parties, as well as Level-5 went all in on the marketing. And they did a good job in doing so."

Narrator: "But, would it be good enough to hold off Pokémon GO?"

Part III
Narrator: "On July 6, 2016, the heavily hyped Pokémon GO is unleashed on the masses."

Abdallah "AbdallahSmash026" Elayan - YouTube Personality: "The thing about Pokémon GO was, it revived the franchise. It had been in decline since at least 2013. Pokémon GO started the smartphone gaming craze in Japan, smartphone gaming hadn't caught on in Japan. Before Pokémon GO, you'd go on the bullet train and see people with DS's or 3DS's in their hands. After Pokémon GO, you'd go on the bullet train and see people play games on their smartphones. And one of the games they were playing was Pokémon GO."

Johnny Yong Bosch - Voice Actor: "Yo-kai Watch probably would've done a lot better overseas in my opinion had it been a smartphone game right from the get-go."

AbdallahSmash026: "Level-5 looked over its shoulder, and they realized Yo-kai Watch had lost Japan. There was no resurrecting Japan. Yo-kai Watch as a franchise would have succeeded had it been a smartphone or console title. Because, in the early days of Pokémon GO, Pokémon GO was the biggest smartphone game out there. And had it been released on iOS or Android, it might have been able to hold on."

Narrator: "The one-two punch of Pokémon GO and Pokémon Sun & Moon hit a combined total of over $300 million. And the Yo-kai Watch franchise suffers."

AbdallahSmash026: "I mean, it was just silent. Copies of Yo-kai Watch 1 and 2 sat on store shelves, Hasbro had discontinued the toyline... Even the TV show - sure, it was airing on Disney XD, and people watched it and McDonald's brought Happy Meal toys to its US restaurants; but it was just... somebody turned off the light."

Xavier Woods - WWE Wrestler, G4 Contributor: "It was a hit with gamers and anime fans, but unfortunately wasn't commercially viable. It came at an awkward time, right before the release of Pokémon GO. So unfortunately, it never really built the sort of fanbase it could've had."