The Pokemon Company is Hiring a Web3 Expert

Remember back in the 90s when everyone said Pokemon was "just a fad"? Well now it's 2023, and it looks like Pokemon is about to take over another so-called 'fad'. After playing with these virtual monsters for decades, we may soon be catchin' them all on the blockchain.

The Pokemon Company - the joint venture between game developers Game Freak and Creatures with Nintendo - has posted a job listing for a Corporate Development Principal. Specifically, they're looking for someone with "Deep knowledge and understanding of Web 3", and "Deeply connected to a network of investors and entrepreneurs in the technology sectors" such as NFTs and the metaverse. (As well as, obviously, "A strong personal interest in the world of Pokemon." How do you evolve a Galarian Yamask again?)

There are scant details on what projects the applicants would be a part of. As a franchise, Pokemon encompasses a giant array of games, shows, films, merchandise, and projects of all kinds - including Pokemon GO, which arguably brought another emerging technology, Augmented Reality, to the mainstream in 2016.

With Pokemon's focus on collectability throughout the franchise (its tagline is 'Gotta Catch'em All', prompting players to capture every creature they can find), the concept seems to be an ideal fit for the blockchain. In fact, a number of Pokemon-likes have already made strides in the NFT gaming sphere.

Axie Infinity - a play-to-earn game by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis - enjoyed great popularity in the Philippines in 2021, before the game's secondary token, SLP, crashed in February 2022, and hackers compromised the Ronin Network, a sidechain on which it was built, in March 2022.

Pixelmon, meanwhile, is a project that garnered $70 million in investment, before it became publicly scorned in February 2022 after the art style of the game was revealed. Pixelmon had since hired a new leadership team in September 2022.

With Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa having said that he saw "great potential" in the idea of the metaverse, will this be Nintendo's first real step into the blockchain?