"Pokemon has the monopoly on the monster catching genre because of us"

I played Nexomon lately and it hit me. I like Pokemon, but I always wondered why no one could make another game to rival it. Like, Metroid influenced tons of other successful metroidvanias for example, some arguably more relevant than Metroid now, but we never had a true competitor to this franchise.Pokemon has its flaws and games like Nexomon address some of them. I played it at a friends house and we both enjoyed the game. But then no one else is playing it. You can't trade or battle with people. They can put whatever mechanics, graphics or monster into a game, but Pokemon has us, the players, doing the in-game collecting thing in real life with each other. That's what makes it. They could implement all the same or even superior online features, but they don't have the brand awareness.The monster catching genre has a real-life social aspect that is essential to be as enjoyable as it is. I put maybe 50 hours into Pokemon campaigns all in all and probably 200 more socializing with people IRL or online.And this isn't some unjust Pokemon monarchy either. The franchise has earned its place through two decades of nonstop successful media. That's how it gets ya. You can enjoy Nexomon or whatever game, but you can't make the next Pokemon because you need to build that brand awareness. They've been building it for 20 yearsthat's my saturday morning take via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/3ANm6LB