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I've seen a lot of people push this narrative of "millions will buy it anyways, so this is all worthless". And they're right about the first point- the games will push huge numbers in spite of controversy. But that doesn't mean it's all worthless. First of all, as many people have pointed out, "success" in the eyes of an investor isn't seen purely in terms of "did this turn a profit" but in terms of "did this turn the expected profit". You invest with intention to get a certain monetary value back, and if you don't get back as much as you expected then that's a problem. If controversy were to lose them even half a million sales that is likely to be noticed.
But the actual sales numbers aren't the really important thing being accomplished here. The really important thing is that we are damaging their brand identity. At the time of writing this, I just googled "Pokemon Sword and Shield" and on the first page three separate references to the controversy came up, two of which were in the news and video headers at the top of the search. Merchandising companies care a lot about their brand identity. For context, take note that may of the third and second party characters in Super Smash Brothers (including the yellow rat himself) feature alternate costumes that give them accessories as opposed to most of the cast which change their primary colors. This is largely believed to be because the character owners would not allow alternate costumes that compromise the recognizability of their characters.
