Susumu Fukunaga of The Pokemon Company hosting Pokemon Fiesta at IIT Bombay [Exclusive]

The last Pokemon Fiesta The event held at IIT Bombay’s Techfest not only showcased the myriad of Pokemon-themed attractions and events on the campus of the prestigious Indian tech institution, but also gave us the opportunity to sit down and talk with… Susumu Fukunaga From the Pokemon Company.

As the Brand Director of the popular media franchise in Asia and India, Fukunaga answered some of our burning questions in a face-to-face interview. Speaking about the brand’s plans to deepen its involvement in India, Fukunaga said:

“We hope that in a few years, when these students get out into the community and work jobs and such, they will meet us and want to contribute to the Pokémon brand with exciting new content.”

Read on to learn more.

The Pokemon Company’s Susumu Fukunaga talks about how they see India as a viable market for the brand

S. Why did The Pokemon Company choose IIT Bombay’s Techfest as a key platform to engage with students and visitors?

Fukunaga: We feel that college students are well connected as a community, so we think this is a great place for people to enjoy Pokemon content together and have common interests. One of our team members learned about the famous IIT Bombay Techfest and was able to connect with the organizers here.

Once they started discussing the possibilities, both parties realized that this could be something interesting, and that’s how this whole event came to be.

S. How does Pokemon Fiesta align with the brand’s strategy to deepen engagement with young, tech-savvy Indian audiences?

Fukunaga: In fact, one of our team members got to know the organizers. Then we discussed the possibilities, and that’s how the event happened. We hope that in a few years, when these students go out into the community and work jobs and such, they will meet us and want to contribute to the Pokemon brand with new and exciting content.

S. What do you think is the growing importance of these experiential events and community touchpoints hosted by The Pokemon Company that will help strengthen the Pokemon brand and ecosystem in India?

Fukunaga: When we ask people if they’re familiar with Pokemon, most say they do, but what they mean by that can be very different. Some people may enjoy the Pokémon video games, while fans of the core series know each Pokémon and are familiar with the world around them.

On the other hand, others only know the word “Pokemon” and nothing more. Therefore, we hope that by attending and interacting with our event, those who know very little about the brand will learn more about Pokémon and broaden their horizons to enjoy what we have to offer.

Q: Pokemon GO has been very popular in India since its launch in 2016. However, the main series on the console has not enjoyed this franchise since Nintendo is not officially present here. Are The Pokemon Company and Nintendo looking to change that in the future?

Fukunaga: You know, it’s a Nintendo console; Whether they will be able to launch it in India, and how they will do it – it all depends on a lot of factors, so the decision is entirely up to them. However, if that happens, our content will also be able to reach a much larger audience in India, which we will be very happy about.

Q: What are your observations on how the gaming and fan communities are evolving in India, and what does this mean for the future of Pokemon here?

Fukunaga: Since we started our full promotion in India when we opened our India Marketing Office in 2023, we have noticed that a lot of people are enjoying our games, like Pokemon Unite and Pokemon GO. But as we just said, whether Nintendo launches its console in India or not is not in our control.

What we can do is transfer our experiences to smartphones, as we did before (with Unite and GO). In addition, we have already announced that Pokemon Champions will be available next year on phones as well, so we hope that those who are not yet familiar with Pokemon will be able to enjoy Pokemon battles easily.