“I would never have imagined making a career out of it”: this Auvergne native created the first French media dedicated to Pokémon

Live from your passion and become a national reference in your field. Ten years ago, Jordan Ben Abdallah was far from imagining such a destiny. And yet, the young Clermontois is today at the head of “Pokékalos”, the first French media dedicated to the Pokémon license, with several hundred thousand visitors each month to its website.

The million mark is even reached during the release of games from the most lucrative franchise in the world. “It’s always quite surprising to see such figures when I know that I started from zero,” confides, not without humility, the Auvergne native. I could never have imagined this. » What a long way we have come since February 2016 and the launch of his project born from a desire to offer factual information on the universe of the famous creatures created by Satoshi Tajiri.

“I had some knowledge of web development and I created everything from A to Z,” explains Jordan. I had been following Pokémon news for a very long time but I wanted to create my own site because those that already existed did too much in their articles with a lot of paraphrases. I wanted to offer something a bit in the spirit of AFP, that is to say raw information and, afterward, readers do with it what they want. »

Thus, the person who fell in love with Pokémon from the first Red and Blue versions, in the heart of the 1990s, on his brother’s console, was able to stand out on the web and attract a certain audience. And a smartphone application is no stranger to this. “Pokémon Go helped a lot,” remembers Jordan Ben Abdallah. My site was one of the few to offer a complete file on it and, even if this game was released in 2016, the news around it is still attractive. »

“The license speaks to everyone and to many generations”

If, naturally, visitors to the site are mainly from France, it is also consulted from Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and even… Japan. This success allows this astrophysics enthusiast to devote himself fully to his activity and make it his profession. He is even regularly invited by Nintendo and Pokémon to events in Paris or abroad, in particular to preview games and be at the heart of announcements.

These experiences allow him to take an informed look at the evolution of the franchise which recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. “The license still works as well because it speaks to everyone and to many generations through games, cards, cartoons… he analyzes. They were able to diversify into games with RPG on the main ones, strategy with Champions, relaxation with Pokopia. There may always be criticism, but the Pokémon universe still has many good years ahead of it. »

Just like “Pokékalos”, the media of Jordan Ben Abdallah who is now waiting, still from Clermont-Ferrand, for the tenth generation of games whose release is scheduled for 2027. Like all the other fans, he was able to discover the trailer a few weeks ago and rediscovered the thrills that accompany such a discovery.