The Significance and Impact of IP Industry Development - Taking the “Pokémon” IP as an Example

Oct 12, 2026

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Against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding global IP industry, the paper examines long-term operational strategies and core values of successful IP industries through the Pokémon case. It analyzes cross-media narrative construction, global layout, and industry expansion, emphasizing the theoretical importance of emotion-driven factors for sustainable development. The study argues that emotional links run through the entire IP operation process—starting from emotional anchors across media, extending via local cultural symbols within globalization strategies, and culminating in concrete expressions of user emotions. This enables the conversion from emotional identification into commercial value, offering a practical development model for IP industries.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time4 min

AccessFree to download

1 Introduction

2 Research Methods

3 Research Findings

The Significance and Impact of IP Industry Development Taking the “Pokémon” IP as an Example Weigang Lin Department of Literature and Art, Jinshan College of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002, China [llwwwggg@outlook.com](llwwwggg@outlook.com) Abstract. Against the backdrop of the booming global IP industry, the long-term operational strategies and core values of successful IP industries have become the focus of attention. Based on this, this paper primarily focuses on the crossmedia narrative construction, global layout, and industry expansion, aiming to explore the core theoretical significance of emotion-driven factors for the sustainable development of IP. This emotion-driven connection is not the product of a single stage but serves as a critical link throughout the entire IP operation process. It spans from the construction of emotional anchors in cross-media narratives, to the emotional resonance sparked by integrating local cultural symbols into global expansion strategies, and finally to the tangible expression of user emotions, thereby achieving the transformation from emotional identification to commercial value. This case study shows how emotional connections play a crucial role in the long-term operation of IP, and provides a model for practical development of the IP industry. Keywords: Pokémon, cross-media narrative structure, globalization strategy, user emotional connection, emotion-driven 1 Introduction In recent years, the global IP industry has entered a period of intense growth, attracting widespread attention from all sectors of society. Among these, the Pokémon IP has consistently ranked as the most popular IP series globally. As a landmark case, since its creation in 1996, it has continuously developed a diversified, full-fledged industrial chain encompassing games, animation, films, trading cards, and merchandise. By April 2025, it had generated revenue of 98.9 billion USD, making it the most profitable IP globally [1]. Its success has prompted the research question: How has a game IP created in 1996 managed to sustain its dominance in the global market? Henry Jenkins' “transmedia storytelling” theory emphasizes the cross-media architecture of constructing a story world through the collaborative efforts of multiple media [2]. As users engage with different media, their participatory behaviors also evolve with the changes in media [3] . Based on the key theoretical basis of compatibility between cross-media characteristics, the reimagining of classic IP characters to meet audience © The Author(s) 2026 A. T. B. Azizan et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 2025 5th International Conference on Culture, Design and Social Development (CDSD 2025), Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research 999, [https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_8](https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-541-6_8) demands for interactivity and immersion also paves the way for innovative development in the fusion of film and gaming [4] . The core of cross-media narrative architecture lies in breaking down media barriers to achieve narrative complementarity and emotional synergy across different platforms for the same IP. This has enabled the Pokémon IP to become an emotional symbol, with the IP serving as a symbolic consumption referent [5] . Through dissemination via animation, comics, and films, it constructs emotional connections in viewers' minds, successfully transforming the IP into an emotional carrier and extending product offerings. However, existing research has primarily focused on cross-media narrative frameworks or single analyses of operational strategies, lacking a systematic integration of cross-media narratives, globalization strategies, and emotional connections in brand expansion. The primary objective of this study is to analyze the Pokémon IP as a case study, using sample surveys to examine how Pokémon achieves information complementarity across

FAQs

What is the main focus of the paper on IP industry development?

The paper focuses on how emotion-driven factors support the sustainable development of IP industries, using cross-media narrative construction, global strategy, and industry expansion as key angles.

How does the paper describe the role of cross-media narrative architecture in Pokémon’s success?

It emphasizes breaking media barriers to achieve narrative complementarity and emotional synergy across platforms, enabling Pokémon to function as an emotional symbol and an emotional carrier for products.

How were survey data collected and processed in the research methods?

The study used a questionnaire survey, designed around users’ exposure time, media channels, motivations for spending, and emotional identification. It was distributed online via Questionnaire Star and then processed to ensure reliability and validity of the responses.

Oct 12, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy