During San Diego Comic-Con’s South Park 20th anniversary panel, Trey Parker informed the crowd that him and his team wouldn’t be tackling Pokemon GO in the future. While this may strike some fans of both South Park and Pokemon as a little disappointing, Parker’s rationale behind the decision to pursue other topical issues makes a lot of sense:
Parker is, of course, referring to the popular ‘Chinpokomon’ episode from Season 3 of the series, in which the four main characters (Cartman, Kenny, Stan, and Kyle) get swept up in a Pocket Monster-inspired craze called Chinpokomon. In typical fashion, the situation escalates dramatically, as it turns out that the faux children’s property was a front to get kids to bomb Pearl Harbor.
There were also similarities between the Pokemon GO game and the episode that Parker pointed out – such as tracking the locations of the children – leading him to jokingly imply that their idea had been swiped, stating “I’m like ’they ripped off our f-ing thing!’” Despite seemingly having no desire to resurrect Chinpokomon to lampoon the popular app, Parker and Stone have both been hard at work on another video game-centric project in South Park: The Fractured But Whole. That game is looking to be a successful followup to the pair’s previous Stick of Truth title, and there are sure to at least be a couple of references to Chinpokomon in that game for those anxious for more.
It’s hard to say if Parker and Stone will change their minds in the short term, but there’s currently no denying the power that Pokemon GO has on consumers – especially considering that the app single-handedly made Nintendo worth more than Sony.
Source: IGN
