Game Freak Prefers To "Implement New Things Fairly Gradually" In Pokémon

Commence the bellyaching!

You can implement new things without taking out stuff people loved.

Really? and here I was thinking Pokemon had changed massively since it's early Gameboy days

[Insert angry comment here.]

The last 3DS Pokémon games contained 809 Pokémon, plus a multitude of forms, bringing the total number of models to what I'm sure is over 1000.

The first "proper" home console Pokémon game is most likely to contain less than half of that.

The cheaper 3DS games will contain more content than the first home console main series Pokémon game...

Bravo, Game Freak.

At this point, I would rather they delayed it another year.

Rockstar doesn't rush their GTA games in order to have a new instalment on shelves every year, and while I'm not suggesting a 4-6 year gap between sequels, Game Freak frequently recycle content from game to game, and will continue to do so throughout the lifespan of the Switch, which makes any excuse of balancing issues or there being too many Pokémon total BS.

If they want to further capitalise on their efforts, they can release a Stadium-style game every generation, which recycles all of the character models and movesets. Bam! More easy money.

The first game in any Generation forms the basis of all subsequent games. In two cases, Game Freak recycled the same engine between generations, being Generations II and V (which were based on modified versions of the Gen I and IV engines respectively). Even Gen VIII is recycling character models and the same basic animations from the last TWO Generations of games on 3DS.

I hope this means they are still hiding some big new feature and that they don't consider a large open area as the game's most enticing mechanic.

Uh...COULD WE PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT GAME FREAK FOR JUST ONE DAY!!!!! What are they trying to do, DRIVE US MAD?!? NO MORE CONTROVERSY, PLEASE!!!

@ForgottenArctic A small price to pay, for salvation.

@-Juice- LOL

Yeesh, no wonder they're so far beyond the curve. Yeah, they're going to find this won't fly in the console market, gamers demand cutting edge games. They're going to have to adapt and change MUCH faster than they'd like.

The biggest thing they lost me on was the removal of random encounters. They shouldn't have teased it in the introduction trailer if they had no intentions of there being any random battles at all. I think I am done ever playing core Pokemon games until they revert to Random Encounters, although I think this is a permanent addition so I will never be playing another main line again.

@Silly_G
I think a statement like this is way too strong for how little we actually know about the game.

They haven't said how many will be in the final game, much less who isn't going to be. If the number of pokemon alone is what you define as content in a pokemon game, then yes, there will be less. If you define content as more elaborate towns/areas, we seem to be getting heaps more.

As far as delaying goes, they don't really have a choice since they run on the timetable of the anime and card game; it's not just about the video game.

For the record, I'm not saying this will be a perfect game, but I don't think it's time for pitchforks yet either

@LordGeovanni there are random encounters...

@Minfinity
There are no Random Encounters. You should prove otherwise.
There are visible encounters and there are symbol encounters but no Random Encounters.

Funny because that's exactly how EA runs its sports games. Gradually adding features each year , taking stuff away and then bringing it back as a "new" feature. Just reinforces my position to skip this Pokemon Gen completely

Oh dear..... I don't think they have the expertise. They seem lost not making games for the 3DS.

Getting out my popcorn to read the comments! Let the ragefest commence! 😊

I mean, the way Gamefreak implemented the Wild Area is probably the only way they could have addressed the desire for an 3D open-world area in Pokemon while simultaneously being a very traditional Pokemon game.

If the Wild Area and the Mega Raid battles are received well, then Pokemon Gen 9 (or at the latest, Pokemon Gen 10 lol) will probably feature a fully 3D open-world region.

I wonder what ideas were rejected.

I wasn’t too upset about the whole Pokédex situation, but what DID make me upset was GameFreak’s attitude towards their fan-base. They have no intentions to listen to their fans and implement the features people want. Instead they know that “people will buy it anyways” and they just want to make their quick money. I understand they are a business and they have to make money, but they would be nothing without their fans. They need to listen

"Oh Game Freak are lazy" they have been lazy for the past few years and now you lot only just realised that and your not happy about it

Game Freak's development mindset is stuck in the 90s. Sword and Shield will do well, regardless, but I think it's fair to speculate sales figures would be even greater had Game Freak shown interest in adopting more contemporary practices. I'm referring to DLC, expansions, etc. Though it's warranted (in my book, anyway), it's disappointing to see what fans expected to be Pokemon's "Breath of the Wild" moment twist and contort into a PR nightmare.

Must have took a lot of brainstorming to think "Hey why not make the Pokemon giant?"

@LordGeovanni why do you want random encounters back? If anything that's one of the good changes they've made

@Bliquid 1998 wasn't 30 years ago

"We could make big changes, but that would be so much work that we just leave as it is."

They're basically admitting they are lazy and/or creatively bankrupt. Breath of the Wild tried something new and groundbreaking and will be forever be remembered for it, sadly Sword and Shield will not.

@jtmnm
Pokemon Ultra Sword/Ultra Shield is going to be the DLC/expansion to Sword/Shield.

Just be glad Game Freak (and Nintendo in general) haven't locked any Pokemon behind lootboxes or microtransactions, because that's the trend that most of the gaming industry is into nowadays.

Pokemon is Nintendos FIFA / Call of Duty.

@LordGeovanni their statement is that they aren't random in the sense that you aren't forced into a battle:
"You can also trigger battles by running into the ! icon when it pops up in patches of tall grass"
These are still random in that you don't know what you found, but you can opt out of them if you don't wish to take part. Basically saving you the battle animations and skipping to 'run away' if you're in a rush.

Personally, I'm bummed for Gamefreak to hear that neither Z-Moves nor Mega Evolutions would return. Somebody had a cool, meta-shaking idea, they tried them, got shifted into a new Meta.
Dynamax should, on paper, make OHKO sweepers and "Dyna-mirror" battles out of the high ranking Pokémon while simultaneously giving less powerful, fan favorite Pokémon enough of a boost to take on the big guns. Potentially a much better idea than the aforementioned two shake ups if the stat boost is overwhelming enough that Speed suddenly has its tables turned or a Pokémon can last long enough to make use of Swords Dance, Hyper Beam, etc.

Not sure how I feel about how much of this interview Nintendo Life has cribbed from Metro between this and the previous post about Pokémon Snap... It's a great interview and it's worth reading it's in original context. Always think it's kind of shady when media outlets take a huge amount of content from other media outlets. Even with the (minimal) credit, it's not a great look.

This issue seems to never go dry, unfortunately.

@MsJubilee Yes.

@westman98 Doesn't pokemon Bank cost money?

@Xelha,

When you say everybody are you sure you are not just talking about the core internet posting minorities?.

@Yorumi,

If they are that "Out of touch with reality" as you put it,then how come their games sell so well,if as you and the other forum posting minorities so often point out that they keep doing things nobody wants?

@Galenmereth,

Without a doubt pure bait,but no doubt this article will have it's desired effect.

@Xelha,

You seem to be confusing the word Facetious with facts,and it's not my intention to personally have a go at you,it was just your comment came first.

My point is that we often fall into the trap of thinking just because something happens that we don't like,then everybody else is in the same boat,when in fact they a probably not,just look at the let's go games,these were slated by internet forums and YouTube communities saying they were no good and would not sell,when in fact they when't on to sell around 10 million copies.

@Yorumi,

You post hinted at the fact they did not know what they were doing,or as you said "Were out of touch with reality",this is untrue as their game sales would suggest they are more than capable of making titles that appeal to the wider Nintendo audience.

A lot of things Nintendo and it's partner game studios do does not always exactly suit my game tastes too,but that's not because they have lost touch with reality,it's just they have made a decision that I myself do not personally like.

@Galenmereth Yay, a positive comment

I couldn’t care less about this game and what GF has to say.

I went thru the denial and rage stages too quick to even care at this point. They do not deserve my money nor my love anymore.
The apologists can enjoy their $60 game with cut content and GC era graphics while I’ll be playing decent games this holiday season! 🥰

@Sandro89 I would say more traditionalist than lazy. The wording actually tells me that they're open to doing more outside the main franchise but just don't want to wander away from what makes a Pokémon game feel like a Pokémon game - at least not all at once.

What? The Pokemon franchise is evolving!
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Just kidding, no it's not.

@YourGoodFriendly
It's a $5 annual subscription, not recurrent monetization like lootboxes.

@juicemofo,

That's just what most people want though more of the same,and I guarantee you if they totally changed everything then the internet forums would be still complaining.

@Yorumi Refreshing to see someone call another user out on using a strawman argument and actually know what a strawman is. Thanks!

@johnvboy quantity doesn’t mean quality. They’ve been rushing on the games since the jump to 3D in 2013. It’s common knowledge GF lacks the expertise to develop games with actual substance. They prefer to pull a FIFA and release a game every year, that’s why it sells so much. XY was so short people could finish the Kalos league in less than 6 hours. SM looked more like a dumb attempt to copy Yokai Watch and they got rid of a lot of things that pissed off many fans. The last Pokemon game that was actually good was ORAS, but they were remakes.

Where’s the innovation? Replacing gyms with stupid trials and mega evolutions with stupid z-moves isn’t exactly doing what the fans want.

It’s just too obvious they’re only trying to cater to children and casuals now and are giving us - competitive players and/or longtime fans - the middle finger.

@Xelha,

Not nitpicking fella,just your comment came across as negative,which I have no issue with by the way,hey it's your right to comment if something happens you don't personally like or agree with.

My issue with your initial comment is the suggestion that "Everybody" does not want/like something which is not correct in my opinion,it does not in no way take away from your personal dislike to the situation,but you can't assume that the wider Nintendo demographic agrees with you.

So not being a proper 3D game with a controllable camera is what makes Pokemon Pokemon? And not let's say... Oh I don't know... Being able to collect all the Pokemon?

This is essentially the second time ever Game Freak have replied to the criticisms being levelled against them (unfortunately with a "we won't change anything because people keep buying them anyway" reply), the first time being only a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it's just me, but it does seem like it is at last starting to dawn on them that they're perhaps the laziest and most incompetent video game developers in history - they just don't get it yet.

@Brianst0rm,

But again that's down to personal opinion,I mean it's quite cool not to like the yearly Fifa and Call of duty updates,and pass them off as just simple cash grabs,and to suggest the millions of people buying these games are sheep who would simply buy anything,without looking at the work and effort it takes bringing these games out year after year,who is to say we are the experts in such things and everybody else is just wrong or misguided?.

At least I'm happy that fans finally open their eyes and see all the flaws of the new games I remember been the first one to point everything but no one believe me and only saw me as a hater

@nintendoknife,

In truth fella they do not have to respond to any complaints,but the fact they have responded shows they do listen,I don't remember them using the line "we won't change anything as people will keep buying them",but as I have said before why are our complaints more valid than the millions of happy customers who buy these games?.

@GKO900,

I think most of the "Fans" are just excited for a new Pokemon game coming out for the Nintendo Switch,the complainers and moaners are a minority at best.

Everyone going off at Game Freak like they made you buy loot boxes for a chance to win pokemon.

People genuinely need to take a step back and question their entitlement issues...

Those same people complaining about Game Freak will do it while playing Fifa and dropping £50 on loot boxes while they complain that the new pokemon game doesn't let you catch em all.

The hypocrisy is almost blinding

@Razer "Those same people complaining about Game Freak will" No, "they" won't.

Came late to the party, as expected from almost every pokemon article posted you guys are heated. Well although the new games don’t look entirely close to what I would expect the first console Pokémon games to be; we’ve barely seen much of the game, new Pokémon, etc so imma keep my mouth shut and not complain considering no matter what I’m getting it as well as most of you lmao. Let’s hope they have a lot of surprises left. If the game is actually bad and everything we’ve seen is close to 60-70% of the game then yes I will be severely disappointed

@Yorumi,

My issue with your initial post still stands,you are suggesting an experienced games company with millions of sales behind them and happy customers does not know what these customers want,my suggestion is your initial comment is more that Game Freak are out of touch with your own personal reality,or want's and needs.

I don’t need a total reimagining of Pokémon. I just wish that Game Freak didn’t abandon features and Pokémon after every generation.

@Zoda_Fett ,

All the moaners and complainers need to do is vote with their wallets and not buy this game if they feel so strongly,this will send a message to Game Freak to get things right for the next Pokemon title.

@Xelha
I'm sorry but here I disagree with you:

That "new things" that are added are things that nobody wanted or wonder is normal and should be, because a game is developed primarily through ideas of those who develop the game, not every fan that has the game , and if we talk about millions, then it does not make sense to want to put the dream of how to "improve" Pokemon of those millions because those millions want it and ask it, right?
It is true, for that there is feedback and in the development they take into account those things that they want and ask the fans, but in the end, the decision comes from the developer.

Now, all this is also subjective, there have been Pokemon things that many people have not wanted since the first generations, and that is normal.

I also do not like the idea of cutting the Pokedex in this generation, and like many, I'm not happy, but I do not have the "anger" to blind myself and not see what else there is in these games, which by the way, they They have not given yet more explanations of some things that I have seen in the videos and therefore, we may have some things "that we have asked or asked", but we just have to wait and see, having patience in the first place.

And finally, and I repeat, this will ultimately be decided by Nintendo and Game Freak, they will see how they end up developing these games of Shield and Sword, because at first, it is their game and they are the ones who are working there to have the product ready, and depending on us whether we like it or not, whether we buy it or not, and see if it is "again", it is a success or not. This is how a fan should behave, voting with her/his money and expressing her/his negative opinions with maturity.

Unfortunately, some fans have not behaved as it should be and worse, and not only here on the Nintendo Life page, if not, on the internet, the bad attitude that some "fans" have had has been very horrible, because now they feel they own the franchise that they even ask for a worker to resign (yes, the famous hashtag of #firemasuda, IS THIS SERIOUSLY, I forget, it's internet ...), just for that reason to cut the Pokedex?; I repeat, I am also not happy that they cut me the Pokedex, and much less for the way they explained the reason, but it does not mean that I act like someone who hurt their family or they had fired from their job (and more if you think you worked for Game Freak), please, we are Fans, we must behave correctly, if there are complaints, as we all have, for that there is feedback; and yes, we can see that they read them, and yes, they answered even giving a reply that many did not like us, but again, instead of the anger, keep insisting on the Feedback and of course, deciding on the purchase final.

So we should behave, but oh well, ready, my last comment on this issue, and I would like to say nothing more about this, because seriously so much negativity sick (I mean it), and well, if you bother my comment, there's the "Thumb down", it's a shame that I can not see it, he he... XD

@Zoda_Fett "Let’s hope they have a lot of surprises left." Hate to disappoint, but Game Freak is infamous for announcing everything before the games are released. There are never any creatures, features or areas in the games that weren't announced in some kind of trailer or Famitsu interview long before the games were on shelves. The same thing happens every time: people speculate about all the Pokémon we haven't seen yet, and when the games are out, turns out there are no new Pokémon we hadn't seen yet. People speculate about new (or returning) features like following Pokémon, and when the games are out, turns out there are no new (or returning) features they hadn't shown off yet. People speculate about all of the mysterious areas on the game's regional map hidden by clouds, and when the games are out, turns out there's nothing beneath those clouds, they're only there for decoration.

@SakuraHaruka,

Awesome and well thought of post,but is does contain far to much common sense to be taken seriously on here.

I personally can't wait until they re-implement the National Dex, that would make the series...what it always had been up thru Gen 8! What a novel concept! It'd almost be like re-implementing something that was a staple of every main series game to date until then!

@EmmatheBest There wasn't really a National Dex in Sun and Moon either, which looked stupid for the out-of-region Pokémon you could actually still catch in the games, but it did still let you move over all of your old Pokémon even if they weren't in the regional Pokédex. I can understand why people have called it "removing the National Dex" but it isn't really accurate.

Translation: game development and innovation is too expensive. Buy our plushies

Oh, did i miss something ?

@LordGeovanni
They are having a mixed of both. They showed that on E3. Some Pokemon are on the overworld others will require random encounters so you can unlock them to show on the overworld.

@HammerKirby (Comment #37)
The core difference between Random Encounters and Visible and/or Symbol Encounters are the elective opt-in or mandatory participation. When Random battles happen, I know that it is completely impossible to prevent and therefore it isn't a fault of mine. When it is a Visible or Symbol Encounter, I personally feel like I am not playing the game efficiently and get additional stress over that. Or, I under-"grind" and therefore don't prepare myself for the next upcoming challenges. Which then forces me to actively grind, making me feel as if that time is wasted because I avoided battles I should have been taking. This also can have implications of times where the game isn't balanced correctly, and ends up forcing more battles than expected, making the players feel that the battles are forced, taking away their option anyway and causing the players to resent the game and/or the developer. All in all, I just prefer Random Encounters because of these reasons.

@westman98 I don't know what you think recurrent means, but if it's not a one time payment, it's recurrent, and something that important that used to be in the base game, simply enough storage space, being put behind a paywall is not something I would think anyone would defend

@EmmatheBest
Sun and Moon were the first games to get rid of the national Dex. Opposed to Sword and a Shield they allowed you to bring any Pokemon over.

A comprehensive list of everything the Pokémon community has not complained about in the past 5 years:
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This is the part where I tell people to quit their whining and shut up.
But no one’s gonna listen, since all they care about is what they want, and REFUSE to listen to reason—
Sorry, it’s a discussion (read: debate/community protest/complaint gathering) about Pokémon. I couldn’t help myself.
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P.S. NL please stop writing about Gamefreak. Because the majority of the Pokémon community just sucks. They’re horrible

@Minfinity (Comment #45)
Again, "random" enemies as you suggest are Symbol Encounters. Part of my major focus in promoting Random Encounters is removing the option of opting out of battle. Already a majority of Gamers seek to avoid those battles and cause themselves to be underleveled for major points in the story.

This is such a shocking revelation... From the slowest evolving franchise in gaming history. But hey, people keep buying it in huge numbers.

i have to say gamefreak has lost their touch with reality cause wat their saying makes no sense with this kind of backlash they should make it up or something but still im getting sword.

I've been playing these games since Red/Blue and I admit that last gen was somewhat weak but the way they're handling these new games are rather alarming. It seems like they're taking these controversial decisions on purpose to see how far they can get before they have to put real effort like other developers have done in recent years to truly evolve their games.

The worst thing about all of this is that the games will still sell. A lot. And they will never learn from their mistakes because money talks.

In other words they refuse to bow down to the mob. Good on them.

@Heavyarms55 do you know the meaning of the word entitled? GameFreak isn't making this game for free, they want me to pay for it. I've explained this to many posters on here again and again. You can't be entitled if you're paying for something.

If anything GameFreak is acting entitled by pulling features and Pokemon and expecting it's fanbase to continue to support it. It's also entitled to act like we have to agree with you or we aren't fans.

Being a fan of something doesn't mean blindly swallowing everything that that involves it and being "grateful" to get it. That's being a slave.

whats the point in adding new things if those new things are bland and underwhelming ideas that force them to take out key core parts of the games?

if they mean the open world is a new thing... it might be to pokemon but not to like 80% of games out there rn; its considered normal for big companies to have open worlds, not groundbreaking. so are they just saying "we're going to gradually develop these ideas (dynamax, open world) bc we know they arent very good now" and they still want ppl to pay 60 dollars for a game that has features that so many other games out there have and are doing 10xs better that are still in development? so we can pay another 60 bucks for the next game that will have more polished versions of these features? we know that wont happen for dynamax tho, maybe the open world but, dynamax will be a sword/shield/gun thing only bc nobody finds them insanely interesting, just like z moves.

nobody is asking for "too much all at once" like, we just want the pokemon back at this point and for the game to look better given that its the first home console game. if gamefreak, the developers behind making the main games for one of the biggest franchises on earth, considers core parts of the franchise (the actual, yknow, pokemon?), and decent graphics to be "too much all at once" for them well idk what to say. even yokai watch is doing the "try new things" thing better than gamefreak are rn, yokai watch 4 doesnt look much worse than sword and shield, and the combat system looks more open and fun to me. it has a big map and they're implementing more yokai and more features in free patches. and they already have 1000+ yokai. i cannot believe pokemon, one of the biggest franchises out there, has less happy fans than a franchise that has a yokai w a literal ass for a face. i just wish instead of "these features are being gradually added so they look bad rn" they could just take a year or two to delay and fully polish them so the game can be the best it can be, so they cant just shove it into a 3rd game or a new gen as a selling point.

i just feel like these games could be so much more than they are; and they will at least look better, in like a year or two when gun comes out. these games will sell no matter what and they know it, ppl will defend a company they love no matter what bc hearing people complain is tiring when you just want to play a game, just like this article was basically prime bait for ppl to leave angry comments thus giving it more attention, and i am a hungry docile fish in shallow water lol

edit: i am embarrassed at how much i just typed lmao

It just feels like they don't have a lot of ideas so they want to use them one by one

@YourGoodFriendly
What I mean is that once you pay the Bank subscription, you have it for a year. This also applies to online subscriptions such as NSO, PSN, and XBL.

Lootboxes put random in-game rewards or features in a "box" and asks user to pay for the chance to get something they may want, i.e. gambling. Game Freak isn't doing that.

Dynamaxing looks pretty replaceable, but having visible Pokemon and a camera-controlled open-world region fundamentally change how Pokemon games function and look to become standard for the series going forward. Even the Raid battles will likely stay in future games (though it may be undergo some cosmetic changes if Dynamaxing is indeed replaced ).

Unless you were part of the "Pokemon of the Wild" and/or "Pokemon Real Time Battles" camp, I'd say these are pretty big changes for the series, moreso than cosmetic alterations i.e. Megas/Z-Moves/Dynamaxing

@westman98 They don't need to do that cuz they make you pay double for the same game twice, double on top of that with another 2 games with a different set of monsters, usually a remake, and then charge you more now on top of that with a paid transfer system that doesn't automatically renew itself and now only works with a select group of monsters.

@ZionWario
I mean, I'm not justifying Pokemon Bank/Home's subscription, as I would certainly prefer it be free (even though I'd probably never use it anyways as I don't transfer Pokemon between games). The same applies to NSO, PSN, XBL, etc...

BTW you are supposed to trade Pokemon, not buy both versions every year. Even Home will have trading, so a non-Galar Pokemon can still be traded with others.

@Galenmereth they could have called it pokemon ninja or boxer or anything it's for the fanswitch and they know it.just always same old thing.last I played was the red blue days and maybe as I own a switch could try the new pokemon.read reviews first we will see 👍

@YourGoodFriendly I'm trying to convince myself of that too. It isn't possible that they cut some Pokemon (hopefully not as many as people think) and aren't offering anything in return. I still believe they have many things up their sleeves.

@westman98 But lootboxes are just the worst microtransaction, not the only bad one. Restricting what used to be a part of the main game behind a paywall is another bad DLC. Charging multiple times for it is even worse.

@Razer Holy strawman batman. I don't buy lootboxes, I have never played FIFA, so lemme say as someone who is not a hypocrite by your definition:

You can criticize things. That's not bad. It doesn't make you entitled. It's silly to just buy every product you can and claim that they are all perfect.

@Galenmereth The baiting articles have been prevalent here for about a year. Damien used to be the worst offender regarding this, but now he writes some of the best articles here, comparatively-speaking. The clickbait is mostly coming from two particular authors.

@Galenmereth I find it extremely funny most people are just ignoring you and it seems to be because you're being the most reasonable.

@saintayu Well said, even if I'm one of the people not especially bothered by the lack of the National Dex.

The most saddening part for me is the fact Game Freak isn't putting it's all into Sword and Shield. Pokemon GO really has damaged the main series games...

Well, maybe Nintendo should gradually move Pokémon away from Game Freak to another development studio.

Honestly, everytime I see some game freak interview I have less interest in picking up sword/shield.

@Xelha THIS

Game Freak will not get any money from me from this release.

Not quite my tempo. #BringBackNationalDex

@duhsoares21
I do not think so, because in the first place Pokemon was created, has been developed and has belonged to Game Freak since always.

@MegaVel91
NO, and I do not believe in the need to look for the guilty ones for the decisions (again we have to leave out that issue of mobile games are gulty for "anything" too, seriously, let's not make the problem bigger.)

@Galenmereth "Posting clickbait mini articles that pulls in a lot of negativity is a goldmine for clicks and user retention."

Sadly nothing new for NL.

...then pretend it didn't exist and focus on the next gimmick.

@SakuraHaruka Pokemon rights are split between Game Freak, Nintendo and Creatures inc. But Nintendo owns the Pokémon trademark alone. So with the trademark Nintendo could move Pokémon to any studio they want. Game freak could still develop a game with the same mechanics but they wouldn't be allowed to use the name Pokémon for the title or Pikachu for a character for example. As Pokémon characters, logo a etc are solely owned by Nintendo.

@duhsoares21
that of "split between", is correct, but, How Game Freak, who created the IP "would not have the rights" of "their own" franchise?, I would like you to answer that, thanks.

I hope these games sell 16 million plus units...the salt from the so called Pokemon fan community will be amazing.

@Xelha,

Great post and well thought out,I would love a Pokemon game with a huge open world like Zelda breath of the wild and could suggest that Game Freak are not listening to me and everybody else by not making one,but the fact remains I have no idea how many people feel the same way as me,so I can't really say the developer is not listening to the fans,back to your post and previous ones,is it not possible that the complaining fan community you speak of is not that many people compared to the wider Pokemon/Nintendo Switch demographic these games air aimed at?,after all when a developer says it makes a new game for the "Fans" this is a very broad term,as there will be casual and then the very core gamers,then contained within this people that will not only spend lots of times playing games,but people like us who will read an post on video game forums,so as horrible as this sounds we may be in the minority so or concerns will not be carrying all that much weight.

I mean put yourself in the developers shoes and if you had a franchise that was selling well,would you change it's winning formula an risk sales just to cater for a small number of fans who disliked something?.

@duhsoares21 nintendo only owns a small portion on the pokemon ip while gamefreak still owns majority stake on the ip.

99% of the comments: "Grr they change my Pokémons!"

Also 99% of the comments a few months later: "I bought it day one! Still sucks but gotta get ma preorder bonus"

😉

@duhsoares21 The problem there is that Pokémon is partially owned by Game Freak. The franchise is joint-owned by Nintendo; Game Freak; Creatures, Inc; and The Pokémon Company.

I really want to see what they do with the wild area before passing judgment, but the animations we've seen so far aren't too great. Hopefully they're just placeholders. I really hope the wild area is a testing grounds for a more open world approach to future Pokemon games. I feel like the franchise would benefit greatly from an expanded scope and if they did that, I'm sure most fans would be more understanding of Pokemon culling and whatnot.

Problem is the games will sell great, so no changes will be made.....

and then immediately remove the feature in the next game

@Galenmereth OR they are just posting articles that many people care about. Game Freaks inadequecy in current gen game development being 1 of them.

@WoolooSweater The community sucks because??? They expect high standards and a vast improvement from 3DS to Switch? Are you even thinking about what you're typing?

@RiasGremory,

Not exactly true.

In short, Nintendo owns roughly 33% of Pokemon, while two other companies own the remaining 66% (assumingly equally). However, one of those companies, Creatures, Inc., is the aforementioned business that Nintendo has an alleged undisclosed percentage of stock in.

@Majora101 Get her, Jade!

I hope this game will have a rotomdex blocking me from using my map and so every time i leave a house, a battle or take a step.
Also i hope to see Lillie make a comeback and stop me everytime i take a step to make the game seem longer.

GTA 5 has been out for 6 years now... and yet some devs still think they need to do it gradually...

"So, for this game we decided to use the Scale option in Maya to make the Pokémons bigger." said Game Freak's spokesman.

"We're currently doing research with the Rotate function. Who know what will happen next?" — he concluded.

@Silly_G "The cheaper 3DS games will contain more content than the first home console main series Pokémon game..."

That already happened.

@Minfinity The anime has no value and the card game can wait. Just write a bunch of filler and make new cards of past Pokémon. Certainly it's doable.

This is sad. Because Pokémon is one of the very few series that can benefit from going off in a new, different direction. An open world Pokémon game is really the thing this series needs. Imagine travelling in a big world, discovering legendary Pokémon, battling other trainers. That would be a fantastic game, and a dream come true for many fans of this franchise.

But if they really just doing small baby steps every generation, it will take us maybe 10 - 20 more years until this idea will be realized by Game Freak.

If only they would actually "progress" with the series. But apparently they can't even implement ideas that REALLY require no extra work, like weather/seasonal evolutions or regional variations (Alola forms were a glance in the right direction but I'm talking about variations in the same region), beyond one token pokemon each generation.

@SakuraHaruka That could be explained with Nintendo financially supporting the game in exchange for the IP shares. Also if game freak had the bigger share of the IP they could easily make Pokémon multiplatform to max profits and Nintendo couldn't stop them. They didn't disclose those information publicly but we can guess by those decisions that Nintendo have shares enough to make decisions as they guaranteed the exclusivity for all those years.

@Galenmereth It's unbelievable how you think some years of experience working in the "indie game community" where 99% of games are created entirely by one person is in any way comparable to an actual company that's been developing games professionally for thirty years. Let me me explain:

• indie games: developed by very few people who have to do everything on their own with no resources to spare
• AAA games: developed by a lot of people in big companies with a lot of money, resources and decades worth of expertise to invest in research and development

The idea that AAA developers should not ever be criticised for their laziness and incompetence just because developing X feature is difficult and time-consuming for a single person doing everything on their own is ludicrous. Criticism on indie games is far more lenient precisely because they have to do it all alone.

If you hire a company to clean out your local park which has been neglected for years, and they do a hack job, accidentally leaking radioactive material in one half of the park and introducing a bunch of invasive species that overtake the remaining half, exactly how much trust would you put in the words of some bloke who, in response to the events, were to say "well, you can't criticise them for that, no way, I have years of experience working in my garden and not everything always goes according to plan"?

It's hard not to think a big reason.for these gradual changes is because of the demand to keep up with the expectation of a new game every year or so.

I wonder - if Game Freak took a few years between games to make these big changes - would the community be OK with that wait?

I suppose they could pad the time between with "remixed" versions of other games in he series in the meantime?

@SakuraHaruka So you mean to say that Pokemon GO has no bearing on why Sword and Shield is being made on the cheap despite the fact it's the first console release by Game Freak themselves?

Face it. GO's runaway success is one of the reasons Sword and Shield isn't as good as it could be, with TPC now focusing increasingly on mobile titles for the franchise.

@Yorumi

"Gamefreak is so out of touch with reality it’s not even fun pointing it out anymore."

That's your original post,so how else am I supposed to take it?,it's not all that complex,please feel free to enlighten me.

@Galenmereth What you're saying essentially boils down to "Not only do they have to texture the front and sides of buildings like in static camera environments, now they also need to texture the back wall! The horror!"

@twomewtwos Now tell us how u really feel...😉

@Yorumi Gamefreaks has stated to not include other gen features to make them 'unique'. Boy did they prove that with ORAS and the Battle Frontier. Never had a poor excuse like 'It wasn't popular so not including it'.
...
...
...
https://i.imgur.com/jakOI6m_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Nice middle finger.

They always have done some nice thing like trainer clothing, pokemon ami and not needing those stupid VM anymore. BUT, they tend to revert, remove the good stuff for other things and call it exclusive stuff of a specific pokemon game. Am i gona run back to XY to walk around in different outfits because ORAS didn't have it?

Let's not forget about the greatest mechanic for pokemon ever, mega evolution! Replaced by awkward posing for a flashy attack. Now that to got replaced, by big ass red glowing pogemanz!

I mean, I will not blame them for being careful with such a community. Many changes would be necessary to truly refresh the formula, but typically moving from turn based to real time would get some backlash, backlash that would be amplified by the internet and its hive-minded negativity.
This type of outrage may bring """the fans""" what they want back, but it certainly won't convince Gamefreak to take more risks and develop the next BotW.
Instead there's a perfectly profitable market that is mobile gaming that may sound even more tempting to them.

@Deihnyx That moble game coming out next month sounds more exciting then Sh/Sw. Distill the game to battling since the plot feels...idk more oppressive compared to pre gen 5.

@Yorumi,

Which was what I commented on,your view is they do not listen to fans,where my view is that they do cater for the mass majority of fans,and this is why these new games will sell tones of units come holiday time.

@Arehexes I don't know, when I saw the open world aspect of Sh/Sw I got excited. Hey there's something fresh coming to this franchise! Finally we're getting closer to a Pokemon MMO!

But then the internet (understand: a few influencing figures) got upset that the dex wasn't complete and it went from there all the way to "lazy" and now there won't be a single piece of news about Pokemon that won't been seen negatively.

Good stuff is coming to mobile and for a reason, its audience is fresh and isn't stuck to same old formula. Makes you wonder if it really is Gamefreak that's out of touch, or the "older" fanbase. The answer at the end of the year.

As a reminder, nobody ever asked nor was expecting Breath of the Wild. Fanbases don't always know what's good for them.
And I guess reminder 2: A lot of "old fans" were crying over FF7 remake not being turn based, and then they showed the E3 footage.

People, give the devs a chance to surprise you positively.

@Deihnyx First, that one area is not enough to call this open world. If the game is still blocking me from most areas cause of plot reasons then open world it is not. Second thing, people complain that Pokémon isn't chaging stuff up enough. When Gamefreak does they get rid of it a gen later to make it 'unique'. I loved being the Champion in Sun and Moon, they didn't push it enough though. Hell Gamefreaks left out battle frontier from ORAS because it was too hard and unpopular (I loved it). Yet they were happy to gave a coming soon easter egg showing off Battle Frontier. Which if popularity is how they decide stuff, will I see Skitty in Sw/Sh or hope it's in the next set of games?

@Arehexes It's not open world, but it's a step in the right direction imho.
And I really don't think the old fanbase that calls themselves "the fans" are asking for a lot of change. If you read up this thread there's even people complaining about random encounters, even though it was one of the few changes of let's go that was actually welcome. The dex outrage is another one of these "let's keep it how it's always been" even though having too many pokemon doesn't allow for much flexibility in the first place. A more ballsy move would be to move from releasing a game every 2-3 years to a game as a service game with constant support (which would effectively allow enough time to get the whole dex + good animations that the fans want) but I'm pretty sure "the fans" would be outraged by that as well.
They can't change more stuff up because they are walking on a minefield constantly, where one wrong move ends up being blown up way out of proportion and become PR disaster (people comparing Gamefreak to EA, really???), so doing things progressively is still the solution that makes the most sense.

@Sim1 im confused, what do you mean?

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@Xelha
As I mentioned, I do not want to talk about the bad topic of Sword & Shield, but I can mention you that as everyone, and as you mentioned, we have our point of view and it is respectable, the only thing that has bothered me, and not only in this topic , if not in several is negativity, negativity that is sometimes very annoying, even on issues like this, and I do not mean that I defend Game Freak and not say bad things (obviously, as I mention, I'm also in disagreement of some things that have shown), but that "in each subject" becomes "I hate this", it is annoying, personally.
Right now with the recent note, I saw that not everything turned into negativity, even though we are still not happy about the aforementioned, but the comments and attitude of some of them has been decent and clear yet showing our disagreement with responsibility.

@duhsoares21
If that were how you mentioned, that would have happened long ago; here the detail is that both Game Freak and Nintendo (and Creatures) share, in a form of contract, that the Pokemon IP belongs to both, none can do what he wants without consulting the other; and for that reason, they created the Pokemon Company, to have a better control of the franchise without having to "overload" of work to both. Thus, all spin off games and Pokemon licenses are concentrated with the Pokemon company (TPC), Game Freak is responsible for developing the main games and "lead" the future of the franchise and Nintendo, as publisher first, of handle the license to its control, and I repeat, consulting each other when developing new games, in anime, manga, toys, movies, etc, etc, etc.

@MegaVel91
I always wonder, why the need to blame something for the failure of others.
Game Freak has become "lazy" in its development of games not because of cell phone games, because they were not prepared for more complex games and in 3D that was already coming; and that not only we can see in them, in many companies, the laziness to develop very good games is given by excessive work of developing several games, little time to have them ready and complex to not launch them with many errors and bugs
If it were that way that you mention, the new Fire Emblem would be a disaster seeing the success of the Fire Emblem for mobile phones, is not it?
In addition, Niantic developed Pokemon GO, Game Freak only support in the development of the creatures and characters.

@SakuraHaruka You're not getting it. Game Freak have not dedicated nearly as much resources to Sword and Shield as they have in the past, and Town is their first really big project that isn't Pokemon related in the longest time. For a while now they haven't needed any big releases besides Pokemon because the main series was and is their baby.

Pokemon GO's runaway success 3 years ago has set the tone for how The Pokemon Company is going to be setting their focus when it comes to the Pokemon franchise. If Game Freak were confident about their position within the Pokemon brand not being threatened, Town's existence as a big project and their attempt to try to make something more exciting than Pokemon would also be unnecessary.

Pokemon GO has made 5% of all of Pokemon's lifetime sales in that time. That's nothing to sneeze at, and the recent focus on Mobile and Mobile-Style games in the past 3 years or so shows that The Pokemon Company knows where the money is, and that's in mobile.

Fact of the matter is that Game Freak isn't putting it's all into these two games and it really shows.

@LordGeovanni The game is still primarily random encounters. There is only ONE Wild Area where Pokemon actually show up in the overworld, so you get to keep your precious random encounters. But also you're the kind person that is the exact reason why Pokemon refuses to actually evolve it's franchise in an effective and meaningful way, why they "gradually" implement new ideas.

@twomewtwos It's an old joke, nothing more, nothing less...

@LordGeovanni (#100)
... Just so I'm getting this straight, you're saying that a majority of people are skipping these symbol battles on a game that has not even released yet, and because of that, are underleveled for later parts of the game?

If this is the case, that's their own fault for not actually playing the game imo. I would actually have a bigger problem if you could skip most of the battles and somehow come out on top anyway.

Regardless, is this really a reason to quit on a franchise???

@Dog (#150)
If you would care to enlighten me on how easy that process is, please expand on how doable it would be. Any form of writing takes lots of time to do to a good standard, and the same goes for animation. To interrupt the narrative by stretching it for months is never a good look and would not do well for the show as a whole; it would have to be a whole season in order for the time slots to fit correctly and not cut into what they already have planned for gen 8, and you can't have a year of "filler".