Pokemon Day was a marketing ploy. Nintendo teamed up with various stores to try and move more merchandise. Yet, with one collaboration, it was something more than that. The select GameStop stores that also offered Pokken Tournament events that day did something special. They turned a cash-in into a genuinely enjoyable event.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a region with multiple GameStops. It provided a unique opportunity to see how stores that were and weren’t getting Pokken Tournament handled the event – though it did mean driving into the city to visit the GameStop in Chicago’s Brickyard Mall. The difference was obvious before you even set foot in the store.
There’s a GameStop that’s a five minute walk from my house. It’s a very nice store with great staff and a decent selection, but it sucked when it came to Pokemon Day. I walked over, expecting to see some decorations and fanfare. There was one table with merchandise on it. Only four other people were shopping in the store, and none of them were buying Pokemon products. I didn’t even get any StreetPasses. It looked like the store did on any other day, which was disappointing.
With the Brickyard location, you could tell something was going on. People kept going in and out of the store. There was a sign up, promoting the tournament. When you walked in, staff was dressed up. One GameStop clerk was wearing the Pikachu one-piece pajamas. The whole back of the store was taken up by four Wii U stations that had Pokken Tournament running on them. In fact, two tournaments were even scheduled. One starting at 11am for adults born before 2000 and another at 2:30pm for kids born after 2001. There was an announcer, people were in line to compete, and those who couldn’t were watching people pummel each other with Pokemon.
There was life in that GameStop. People were excited about Pokemon Day. Pokken Tournament pulled them in. They were hyped up and wanted to linger. There was even a substantial line at the checkout, showing people who stopped by weren’t leaving empty handed. The Pokemon merchandise table showed it, as it had far fewer products left than the one in the suburbs.
Pokken Tournament made a difference. The chance to play the Pokemon fighter pulled people in. People enjoyed the opportunity to do something special, and they were more willing to interact and spend money as a result. With the March 18 release date so close, Nintendo should have had the game in as many stores as possible. It would have made a difference; the location that did have it in Chicago proved that.