Japanese Charts: Pokémon Sword And Shield Is Still Flying Off Shelves As Switch Dominates

Lol any disgruntled fans who thought this was going to flop because They removed features that appeal to a minor demographic Are out of touch with their favorite franchise

Switch is killing it! Nice!

Hopefully both LM3 and Ring Fit Adventure will get close to 1 mil in Japan showing Ninty that both classic games and new IPs can co-exist. Basically please don’t give up on the classic games!

The X-Box sold 110 across the whole country lol.

Selling Pokemon numbers is just more of a reason why they could have afforded not to cut half the Pokemon and a bunch of features, not more of a reason why it's OK that they did.

@CupidStunt that’s actually good for them... 😂

@Roto13

Actually it shows that Game Freak can make the games how they want and still reap the benefits.
The games sales show those complaining loudest were just very loud but also a very minor fraction of potential customers.

I think everyone still getting upset about it should just find a way to move on.

How do Pokémon Sword and Shield's week two sales rank when set against the launch weeks for other titles in Japan this year?

@Roto13 I guess they imply it’s okay cause people buy it anyway since Pokemon has such a big core fan base... though if they had made it something special like BOTW or Odyssey even people like me would want to buy it and it would generate more excitement.

@Roto13 it’s totally ok! It actually made the game better from what I’ve played. The numbers don’t lie, people want a streamlined version of a bloated and outdated franchise. It’s been the dream since gen 2.Pokémon could actually have a chance at being a AAA franchise with more outdated features being axed. Sorry

It's always amazing to me seeing tribalism on display. People are actually so radicalized by tribalism that they want a worse game just so long as their favorite corporation doesn't get criticized. Yeah you sure showed those people who want a better game, can you imagine how awful a person is for not wanting a worse game?

This cult of corporate worship is just weird.

@Roto13 don’t try to explain that to fanboys. The game is selling well, so that means the criticisms were wrong.

@beazlen1 Nintendo is DOOMED I TELL YA! Xbox managed to sell AGAIN Xboxes in the high number of THREE digital numbers! Microsoft won Japan, again!

@Yorumi

I don't think anyone here is saying they want a worse game. People are just stating the facts which is that the games sold well regardless of all the complaining.

For the record I don't play Pokemon games as they bore me so I am not bothered either way about the quality of these games.

@Yorumi to be fair Pokémon has always been pretty flat, and most of the features added/removed for swsh contribute to its sleeker more streamlined gameplay. The vocal minority criticizing the game don’t want a better game, they want the same game. I don’t see the big deal in just sticking with older gens if that’s the experience you want, there’s still a big community

@Crockin Lets be honest ... a mainline Pokemon game with early PS1 graphics and 10 Pokemons in the Pokedex will sell 11 mil copies without any problems.

@Crockin Axing tons of mainstay features (dungeons, story, exploration, GTS, not to mention the national dex) and replacing them with the Wild Area does not make a AAA game. Also things like environment design are not "bloat."

@Crockin I agree that anyone who thought the missing features would make the game flop were out of touch. However, the more reasonable detractors never doubted the games would sell well. Just because it's selling well, as expected, doesn't mean the criticisms are invalidated.

@Yorumi
Or majority of the consumers don't GAF on what's happening on Twitter and all that complaining. If the game is as bad as the vocal minority says, the majority of the consumers probably won't buy the next one. Let's see how the next one will perform regardless of its quality.

RING FIT ADVENTURE AT #2

KEEP THIS UP! The game is amazing! It's changed my life!

Nintendo seriously needs to restock physical copies of this game because people are having a hard finding the game and ring.

On top of that they should show confidence and start making the game available for download via the eShop. They can sell the peripherals at stores. I keep reading some folks wanting digital versions of games so maybe we can get more sales that way too. The only danger will be more clueless buyers purchasing the game and wondering why they need to buy extra stuff separate and than complaining to Nintendo about it.

I'd love to see a sequel or DLC for the title. Also I'd love it if they added a mode for cardio only for days where I need to take it easy or want more cardio. I'd love an endless running portion that just lets you keep running and have randomly generated obstacles. Would be sick.

@beazlen1 I hope Ring Fit does well. In my opinion it's a great step forward (no pun intended) for fitness games. Gimme a whole series with a good RPG storyline and I'd be the fittest dude in town.

Once again the vocal part of the fanbase is not only toxic and hateful but also such a small minority it didn't even make a blip on the impact of sales

@Roto13 story, dungeons, bloated pokedex are the bloated things I mentioned, and by far the worst part of Pokémon. The GTS was cool with tech at the time but you can still trade with anyone who has a friend code.

@NoxAeturnus they are not valid, because things they want are in the old games which are still available. The new games have a different demographic. It sucks being edged out of that, but what are you going to do? I promise review bombing will not make a difference

I can't believe I'm a survivor but I went to target earlier today and then to the gaming section. People were ducking and diving in the aisles because pokemon was flying off the shelves attacking people. Ya ya, lame joke. I couldn't think of anything better.

@Crockin I am not saying review bombing will make a difference. Nothing will make a difference. The franchise can limp along in mediocrity pretty much indefinitely at this point based on its brand recognition. I don't buy your argument that play old games is the solution. The franchise is stagnant. Even you agree with that. Is the vitriol and reaction to the NatDex over the top? Sure is. But even though some people are being raging morons, they do have a point. The three pillars of Pokemon have always been battle, trade, collect. They've undermined one of those pillars in a huge way, and honestly, that's not the only (or even the biggest) problem. The real problem is that GF is a second rate developer. Many of the compliments about Sw/Sh are qualified by "for a Pokemon game." It's beautiful...for a pokemon game. The Wild Area is a big step forward...for a Pokemon game. I think that's a shame. Pokemon has such potential, and it'll always be held back by its own mega-success.

@Crockin I think more story is fine for Pokemon, as long as it's told through optional readings, and cutscenes aren't too long. I adore Sun and Moon, but I don't need it's very slow start to return to Pokemon. As for the Dex, I think cutting down on that's fine, Sun and Moon already did that. I just want all Pokemon made so far playable, if only because that's the most controversial thing about the latest entries, and is the most straightforward way of ironing things out with the online fan base.

As for cut things, I kind of want the SOS system and MAYBE some variation of the horde battles to return, just to change up wild battles and make them feel more alive, but those weren't really integral (though the former did help with making Totem Pokemon more interesting). Really, the most integral additions to me were Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves, but in that case I don't mind Game Freak leaving them to focus on regional variants and Dynamaxing.

@SBandy The first comment is literally happy with a worse game. Even your comment in #7 is pretty much defending a worse game and sort of rubbing it in people's faces. I know you're not trying to antagonize people but what you have to understand these games are so low quality with so much cut content they are basically EA's simcity 2013 or mass effect andromeda. It has the least amount of content since gen 2, 20 years ago, it has animations worse than 15 year old games, graphics that other than resolution would barely be acceptable on the wii. Yet here's everyone cheering it on(yes NL is just reporting facts, I'm more focusing on comments), yay a bad game sold well. The lowest quality flagship switch game sold better than just about everything else yay. We sure showed those people who wanted a better game. We showed gamefreak there is absolutely no amount of cut content or poor quality we won't accept.

I'm not at all surprised it sold well. However, anyone who bought these games and says one word of criticism toward EA or Activision or any other AAA dev I'm going to laugh in their face constantly. No, I'm not surprised by this level of hypocrisy but it is hilarious.

@Hagemaru no these people just proved they are supreme hypocrites and don't care one bit about quality. So you say people don't care. So they don't care about content, animations, performance, or quality? It's just funny to me that the defense of these games is no one cares about the quality of the games or anything that's actually in them just so long as they have the pokemon logo on them. Way to go nintendo fans have just defended the roster update.

@NoxAeturnus what I’m saying is, the people who treasure those pillars are no longer the demographic, so these games are really kinda only for them if they are down to roll with the punches and move forward. Otherwise the audience is much broader and this is actually a fresh experience for many of those people. Pokémon is such an enormous entity(the revenue from console games is not even a drop in the bucket), do not expect some big mind blowing experience ever, at least from the hardcore fan POV. Same with something like Star Wars or any other massive corporate IP

I will say this. They're Pokemon games. So you know what to expect from the core experience of catching, battling, collecting Gym Badges, etc... But the game(s) do feel rushed. I won't use the word lazy. But it's abundantly clear they were rushing to get these out for the holidays. However, they aren't completely devoid of fun.

I don't think these games should have been $60. And yes, I probably sound a bit hypocritical in this regard having bought Shield at $60 already.

I do think some of the changes aren't that big of a deal. I am not a fan of the EXP Share not being optional. I'm puzzled as to why they couldn't make it an off or on thing as they had in Gen VII (Don't recall if it were that way in Xand Y).

And while I am not overly upset by the culling of the Dex as some are, I still have yet to hear of a really good reason as to why it happened. Especially since Sun and Moon (and the Ultras) had the best compromise in this situation. You couldn't catch all 800+ Pokemon in the game anyways. And the National Dex wasn't in the game either. That was offloaded to Pokemon Bank. But you could use all of your Pokemon in the game if you chose to do so.

@Yorumi

Complaints towards Activision, EA etc are usually for their scummy microtransaction business practices so I don't see the connection, but you do you.

@Crockin I get they need to appeal to a broader audience. I do think a happy medium could have been reached in appealing to all audiences. It's not like there isn't some precedence in the past for it

Not really surprising. Although the multiplayer is deeply flawed, the overall game is a lot of fun. I’ve played nearly every big Switch release this year and this has been one of the easiest to get into and just enjoy.

@UmbreonsPapa among some bad pr moves, gamefreak has explicitly stated why actually. And they make the games, so I would say this is your best source. They’ve made it clear they want to keep making these things, and balancing that many characters every single time is not in anyway shape or form, practical. Contrary to popular belief it is not as simple as copy paste, there’s hundreds of hours of coding that goes into every Pokémon. To expect every time moving forward would be child like.

As far as their audience goes, they are at their pinnacle. Pokémon Go is their biggest most well known product and user base ever. Full stop. It is the biggest franchise on the planet, bigger than Mickey Mouse. That means they have reached the biggest audience in the history of civilization. Is that broad enough?

@Kirby_Girl
How long have you had ring fit? I've had it for 2 weeks now and I have already noticed an improvement in my fitness. When I first started I had it on medium and thought I would die but it wasn't long before I started putting it at higher difficultly.

I know that it is supposed to have a lot of content but I am concerned that after I do everything I can in the game that it will be harder to motivate myself to exercise. Ring Fit seems to hit a sweet spot between motivating me and providing a challenging workout that Wii Fit never did. I like the idea of a randomly generated run stage, I was also hoping for a battle arena where you just fight progressively harder monsters to see how many you can beat until your health runs out or something like that.

Either way for now it has been a great help.

@NoxAeturnus "for a Pokemon game."

In other words "these things really aren't good but we're giving it a pass because it's pokemon." Stated yet another way "poor quality if fine in pokemon," and yet a final way "it doesn't matter what's in there as long as it has the pokemon logo on it." That's their defense, we will accept garbage as long as the pokemon logo is on it. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but like I say I don't want to hear a word out of these people about the AAA industry or Nintendo's supposed quality, they've made laughing stocks of themselves.

@SBandy and they complain about low quality and low content.

@UmbreonsPapa to be honest the whole "appeal to a broader audience" is kind of silly and not based on anything really. Really break it down here what about swd/shd appeals to more people than the content in previous games? The old games had a story mode, they had endgame that involved unlocking a lot of new routes, new encounters, story continuation, new game modes, side quests and all sorts of things to appeal to a lot of people.

The story mode in this game is shorter than normal and it has no endgame. What exactly about the previous games was scaring people away that they had to eliminate all of it? Are people really sitting there saying "you know all I care about is story mode, but this pokemon game over there has a secret base. Well I can't play that because I can't stand for there to be anything at all extra in a game. No no this is the one I want because it only has story mode and nothing else at all, ok I feel safe now."

In all seriousness why do people act like pokemon was some niche hardcore darksouls game that hardly anyone bought and now they've moved onto a different audience? The only significant change they've made to the games is massive content cuts.

@Crockin you're hilarious. "They cut everything except story mode and even made that short" it's a step forward. Hopefully the next Mario game has a single 30 second level and that's the whole game. That would but such a massive step forward.

"Contrary to popular belief it is not as simple as copy paste, there’s hundreds of hours of coding that goes into every Pokémon."

You know literally nothing about coding or how a game is developed. You're so thoroughly in worship of a corporation that you are literally making up BS just because you think it sounds good. Lots of people have programing degrees, they are laughing at you. Balancing pokemon is data entry in a database, not coding.

@Crockin Sure, maybe they're evolving the franchise. But the tagline has been "Gotta Catch 'Em All" for more than 20 years. That brand promise rings a bit hollow now. They could always...you know...stop adding new Pokemon. They're in this situation because they have poorly managed the expansion of their franchise and because they lack the skill to push it into new territory.

@Crockin,

don't say that on here fella, the disgruntled fans are in the majority and to suggest anything else is wrong.

@Yorumi,

I don't know why you keep rising to all this, if you do not like the game then fair enough, but if people want to buy this game and enjoy it, so what.

@Yorumi,

How is this tribal?, you could argue the complainers are also pretty tribal in their collective hate for this game.

@johnvboy people on the internet are wrong and that can't stand.

The tribalism has to do with the way people talk. They're happy the game is selling well not because it's a good game that deserves it but because they perceive it hurts other people. They see the criticism of "the other team" the team that must be defeated. All that matters is that their team/tribe wins. It's possible there are tribalists who criticize pokemon but they want to see the games sell poorly not to hurt people but because the games are low quality and they want the series to improve. There is a big difference between "yay it sold well, take that haters," and "this game is low quality, here's the proof, I hope it sells poorly so that gamefreak improves in the future and we get better games."

@Yorumi lol I’ve actually made video games, including GASP worked on a Nintendo game! I’m more referring to transferring charcater data AND animations and sequences, yes there is loads of coding involved there and it is the bulk of the work. I’m actually not a huge Pokémon person, I’m not praising TPC, more railing against the disgruntled fickle fan base because I kinda like watching them flip over change. I’m sorry you have been left in the margins

@NoxAeturnus Pokémon Go IS new territory and responsible for the most success they’ve ever had

Sadly this also means that this series will not improve or I should say will not much improve, because they still sell incredibly well.

@Yorumi,

There is no proof of that, all there is are people who feel the game should be better stating everyone else is wrong, it's still their own perspective at the end of the day, and while you can agree or disagree with this, it's still not a definitive right or wrong, these games are selling well, this does not mean in anyway Game Freak have made a perfect game, it does however suggest that people are happy with the games.

Also the way people talk on here goes both ways, the people that do not like these games have a very condescending way of dealing with people who have no issues, so casual remarks/comments get posted in haste on both sides of the argument, I just do not see why the people that do not like these games have so much issue with those who do.

@johnvboy Phrased another way: "If you're enjoying the game, and others find fault with it, so what?"

@Yorumi People are wrong all the time, especially on the internet. Who cares? Being a jerk to them doesn't help.

@Crockin Game Freak didn't make Pokemon Go, which actually reinforces my point that GF isn't pushing the franchise or the game at all. And you're measuring success only in terms of cash. If all games measured success that way, we'd only be playing microtransaction laden smartphone fests. Or service games. This is the philosophy that people hate so much about EA. Despite its success, no one is making a case for Pokemon Go being the sole future of the franchise - it's a largely shallow experience, but hugely profitable. If cash is the only goal and measure of success, why bother making any other Pokemon games at all?

@NoxAeturnus but you do realize gamefreak doesn’t make those decisions though right? They are mostly just software development

@Crockin No you haven't and it's easy to tell. Anyone who says you code each and every individual pokemon has no idea how programing languages work.

@johnvboy you can say people are enjoying the game and that's fine, however, you've just defended the $60 roster update. You've basically said you can't criticize any practice in the game industry if people buy it. Well ok but that's not really how criticism works.

In terms of pokemon it's easy to compare the graphics to other AAA switch games. It's easy to compare the animations to battle revolution which had more pokemon to animate. And if you want to argue battle revolution lacks story mode, colosseum doesn't and has essentially the same number of pokemon as swd/shd yet with superior animations. It's easy to look at the content in gen 3 and gen 4 and show where swd/shd is completely lacking.

Basically when compared to gen 3 it has less content, worse animations(colosseum, XD), and lower graphics relative to system power, while having essentially the same number of pokemon. So it's worse in every way than games released more than 16 years ago. It's a multigenerational step backward. If people want to buy it fine but don't tell me it's because it's a quality game or a step forward.

@NoxAeturnus It's a joke. I thought "people are wrong on the internet" was so often used as a joke it was obvious.

Switch models outselling PS4 models 23:1?

Who would have anticipated this?

@Crockin Yes, I'm not placing all of the blame at GF's feet. TPC is largely responsible for the brand management. And TPC's insistence on Pokemon being a yearly franchise puts a lot of stress on them to deliver a product and gives them no time to really let the ideas breath and experiment with new directions. That's a real shame. However, some of the blame still rests with GF. They don't have modern development skills. They seem to be going through the same development growing pains that many studios went through in the first generation of HD gaming...back in 2006-ish. They're behind, and it shows.

@Yorumi Sorry, missed the joke due to the general tone of your responses. Got it now.

@Yorumi wrong again! Lol you aren’t understanding the big picture.

@NoxAeturnus tpc is a media conglomerate made of Nintendo, gamefreak, and creatures. Nintendo owns like 30% but has most of the say when it comes to development for Nintendo consoles. If anything blame them.

@Yorumi
No, that's not what I meant. I said these consumers don't give a damn about twitter and all the complaining. They may not even read reviews nor care what other people think. They just buy games they enjoy base on what they've played prior. Not sure where you got all your conclusion and stuff.

@Crockin I honestly don't care about blame. My point is that many of the criticisms aren't undeserved. And it's a shame because again, Pokemon still has so much potential.

@Hagemaru not worth the trouble with this person. Majors blinders up, though I admit I am SLIGHTLY gassing them up

@TeslaChippie completely with you! I’m surprised actually that it’s taken this long for a fitness x RPG game now that we have one. More the merrier (as long as we get more classics like LM , /Pikmin/ Waverace/1080/Eternal Darkness/ ExciteSomething etc etc along side)

Even more impressive than software sales were hardware sales of 180k total Switch units vs 7k total PS4 consoles. There was no drop off this week for Switch consoles even in the week after a big Pokémon launch. Super impressive.

@Crockin
Yeah it's really difficult to deal with this kind of people. He and Kirk (that VR fanatic i forgot his new handle) only deals in absolute. They are either right or you're wrong or you are either on their side or you're not. There's no middle ground. See, my comment was neutral. To a degree I agree with him but disagree on some of his views.

@johnvboy
Very well said. It goes both ways like you said. What's worse is people buying and liking these games who doesn't care or are unaware of the internet drama are being labelled as sheep, who wants a worse game, etc etc by these "superior" gamers.

I bought SwSh double pack day one with the steelbook but it's for my kids and I got it for only 90€ because of price error. I've never been hooked to any Pokemon games even though I've bought most of them on the 3DS and DS. I just couldn't enjoy it no matter how I tried to like it. Probably not a fan of the concept of catching them and using them on battle.

Pokemon GO was an exception though as I've played it for months upon release for the novelty of catching them in the "real world". 😂

Edit:
We haven't played it yet. It'll be a Christmas present. So I haven't seen how the game would play first hand.

@Yorumi I've been wanting to see the roster cut ever generation for a while now. That there isn't tribalism. I think that the move needed to be made, particularly to make it work well for its target audience. Gen 1 made a big deal about knowing and connecting to all the Pokemon (Pokerap, who's that Pokemon etc). It's much harder for the 6-10's to do that when there's 1000. They can't possibly "Catch 'em all."

Beyond that, yes I would prefer higher quality graphics. I think the roster should have been cut harder and more effort made to make the game really jump into the console world. What I'm not certain on, is how to modernize the gameplay in a way that would appease the gamers that want Pokemon to age with them while still being accessible to its core audience so that it can serve as it's traditional "my first RPG" role. I would sooner see the old generation forgotten in favor of keeping it appealing to kids.

At any rate, I've got both games sitting in boxes waiting for my kid's Christmas, who will love it, and I'm confident that I'll get a kick out of playing it side by side with her. I will, however, miss the coop experience we got from playing Let's Go last year.

Switch hardware sales being flat week-over-week after Pokemon's launch week is insane. Switch should rake in massive December sales on par with last year's numbers despite the lack of a December title on the scale of Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

Pokemon Sword/Shield probably sold 450,000-500,000 copies once digital sales are factored in.

@Yorumi Ok, seriously now.
What you are writing is so over the top, that it is very hard to take seriously at all...

As for me, I am not such a big fan of Pokemon at all. I was, back in gen 1, but later not so much.
I very much dislike gen 7, as that is, to me, easily the worst generation of them all.
Yet, I very much like gen 8, as it does a lot of things very right in my opinion. In fact, this is now my favorit Pokemon gen of them all.
Reading your comments, one would think that someone like me can't even exist, but here I am.
Though your way of thinking now is probably something like "he is fooling himself", I guess...

There is a lot to like about this game, compared to earlier gens:
Graphics are, like them or not, far superior to previous Pokemon games, even if it was just for the 1080p alone (which it isn't). Whether it is still the case when you look at it "relative to the system power", doesn't change anything about that.
Combat animations also look alot better than ever before. Yes the animations of the Pokemon themselfs are the same as ever, but the effects themselfs, look a lot better than previously.
A new world to explore is always an argument for a new game in and on itself.
A lot of completely new Pokemon, like we have rarely seen before.
More creativity in arena design (gameplay wise).
Dynamax actually is a lot more fun than it looks at first.
Some very interesting looking routes, like we haven't seen before.
Great city design, far superior to earlier games.
...
You can subjectively not care about any of that, but that is the same as me subjectively not caring about the missing Pokemon.
Yet you are talking as if the games are just objectively bad.

You say it is easy to compare the graohics of this game to other AAA switch games, yet you are going so over the top, that it seems like it is not easy to do that at all...

Sure it is easy to see what gen 8 is lacking compared to some earlier titles, but it should be pretty easy to see the things that the older games are lacking compared to gen 8. If you say, you don't care about something like the wild area, than that is not an argument here, just another proof of how subjective things like this are.

You say there is a form of tribalism (which is generally true for a lot of games), but then you do not seem to accept the fact that some people just like this game and try to argue against them by invalidating subjective arguments, making you appear as someone in a tribe yourself.
And if you want to deny that now, read your own comments again, you are doing it! "If people want to buy it fine but don't tell me it's because it's a quality game or a step forward.", for an easy example.

I am actually an professional programmer, btw. Though I am not a game developer, I have to say, if you think there is no, or barely any coding involved in moving Pokemon from gen 7 to gen 8, then it is actually you, who doesn't understand how coding in this instances works.
Sure, it MIGHT be possible to just copy and paste everything and it works fine, if the stars align correctly. That really depends a lot on how exactly everything is coded in both games and how well it is compatible.
In praxis, this is, in projects of this size, basically never the case. You can fully expect there to be coding involved for each Pokemon. If you have experience in programming, you should be aware of that. This would only possibly be different if they literally just took gen 7 code and just made a new world for it, which you do not seriously believe is all they did, do you?
That is beside the fact that the argument "they just copied the Pokemon from past gens" pretty much invalidates itself.
If it is THAT easy, then why didn't they just do it? There is no motive to be found here at all. Even if you think that the people at gamefreak are the worst kind of lazy people, there would still not be enough of a motive to do that. Unless it is actually NOT that easy of course.

Also as someone who likes playing Fifa, but isn't buying it every year, because I think the changes are not enough:
Comparing this to the changes from any Pokemon gen to any other is ridiculous. Even just the fact that there is a new world, already makes the difference from one game to another much bigger than anything Fifa accomplishes over multiple years. That should be VERY obvious.
So much for: "However, anyone who bought these games and says one word of criticism toward EA or Activision or any other AAA dev I'm going to laugh in their face constantly. No, I'm not surprised by this level of hypocrisy but it is hilarious."

Sorry for the wall of text but it just had to be written out.

@frogopus
That is also something I am thinking again and again.
Sure they could make a botw style Pokemon game, for example, but there is no garantee that this will even end up being good.
Just because something sounds nice, doesn't mean it is nice.
Especially not considering how many fans there are, that might have a problem with the changes.

Zelda botw is a brilliant game, but there are people who hate it for a reason.

@frogopus They cut the roster going as far back as gen 3. You can get the national dex as a side quest at endgame but you never have been able to catch all the pokemon. You've always started with a trimmed down regional dex, the national dex was locked away to endgame and most of the pokemon were transfer only. The only actual difference now is they've said you cannot even use those pokemon if you want to.

This is why it's hard to discuss these things because much of it seems disconnected from reality. Beyond that why does pokemon suddenly need to kick long time fans to the curb in order to grow? The sales have remained consistent in around the 15mil mark. There are very few games in the entire industry that can even dream of getting within eye sight of that.

Now you ask how to modernize pokemon to appeal to long time fans and newcomers. I say the same way they have been for decades now, simple to learn difficult to master. Pokemon has the resources and sales to make some fairly ambitious games. I'm not saying they need a ridiculous budget I'm just saying they've got money to work with.

There's always been a strong separation between the casual modes in pokemon and the competitive modes(by competitive I include things like battle frontier, stadiium etc). They should continue to develop in that direction. No casual player needs to care one bit about IVs, EVs, proper movesets, same type bonus and all that stuff. The casual npc trainers don't do much switching, you mostly just need the correct type matchup, and you have items as a crutch if needed. I'll be back to casual content in a bit.

For competitive focus on the unique game modes like the battle frontier but expand on that. Put a lot of tough challenges in the game like that. On top of that when pokemon-gl was active in these games they did special format competitive modes. Like at halloween they put a online format in where only spooky, halloween themed pokemon were allowed. There was one where only eevee forms were allowed, there were mono-type formats. These are the kinds of things that keep the more hardcore engaged. They could also put some effort into balance and giving more interesting moves to pokemon. I know perfect balance is impossible but they could do more.

Back to casual content they don't necessarily need everything but think of things that have existed like secret bases, underground, contest, photography and things of that nature. I mean tons of casual gamers love Animal Crossing which is basically just decorating a building, hello secret bases? They could add minigames like say a riding obstacle course where you ride pokemon and do time trials or something.

Now I get that the scope of a game needs to be controlled and we could come up with far more ideas than are practical to actually implement. However, the point is not that they need to do everything but that there are lots of ways they could move forward while pleasing two groups of people. And lets not forget there is some crossover, a competitive player doesn't have to hate the casual content.

Pokemon could and should be so much more than it actually is.

@Kirgo half of your argument is excusing it because it's pokemon and the other half is mostly straw manning. When I say the graphics are poor relative to system power I mean look at BOTW, look at XC2, look at DQXI, look at Mario Odyssey and the list goes on and on. In fact it comes up short compared to last gen game, look at XCX, look at even the first xenoblade. This is the biggest media franchise in the world, who gave as the excuse for cutting pokemon to improve the graphics and animations, being blown away by pretty much every other AAA project and even projects that are more than 10 years old.

Speaking of animations, I compared the animations to Battle Revolution which has more total pokemon than swd/shd, and to colosseum and XD which have the same amount of pokemon. Those animations beat the pants off swd/shd and colosseum is 15 years old.

The wild area is the one single somewhat positive thing anyone can point to in these games. To get that you gave up megas, z-moves, half the pokedex, all endgame content both casual and competitve, performance, graphics, animations, draw distance, secret bases/underground, photography, and more. Truly all the cut content is justified by the addition of a poorly optimized semi-open world area.

Pokemon is not up to AAA flagship standards in both graphical performance nor content. Yet they also have more money than anyone else doing AAA games. Sorry but there is no way to say a game which has less content, poor graphics and performance, than a 20 year old gameboy color game is a quality product. People have to make excuses, "the graphics are good for a pokemon game" oh congrats they managed to improve the graphics slightly over an outdated portable system that barely has the capabilities of the wii. Surely they deserve a medal.

When you use as your argument that there's no reason to cut pokemon if they could copy/paste them I would counter and say there was no reason to lie to people yet gamefreak did that. They said the remade the models from scratch, lie. They said they did so to improve the graphics and animations, lie. They said Let's go was for the casual fans and this would be for the long time core fans. Considering the main defense of all the content cuts is that it's not for those fans and it's for the casual fans that makes it a lie.

Finally for programming, I am a programmer. I've worked 10 years on games. There is a huge difference between data and code. In terms of code all pokemon should be loaded into a class that handles all their behavior in game and is model independent. It should work with all pokemon models and also not even know what specific model it is controlling at any given time. You do not code each individual mode in a 3d game engine.

Models and animations are data. Whatever gamefreak may or may not have done with the models and animations is touchup work. They're identical down to the vertex with existing models and the animations are copied from the 3ds games. They may have done touch up work on models but it's not actually possible to create identical models without copying them. It's like asking another artist to paint a replica of a famous painting, he'll get close but it won't be identical.

Switch HW sales hold is insane.

Ring Fit actually scares me, with severe stock issues it's still a beast. Hope they manage to restock it for the next 5 weeks and we'll see the 100k mark hit.

Ring Fit Adventure weekly Japanese sales:
1. 68,497
2. 64,045
3. 51,143
4. 52,240
5. 28,015
6. 26.141
Total: 290.081
The game continues to face stock issues. I've seen reports suggesting that 99%+ of stock had been depleted up until last weekend.

@Yorumi,

I am not here to defend anything, it's Game Freaks game and it's up to them how they make it, like I said I am only pointing out that some people will be more than happy with this, a lot of people as it turns out, and they should not be made to feel somehow wrong or even stupid for doing so.

@johnvboy I sort of see it as two types of people. There's the person who sees the problems and doesn't care. They don't pretend like it's some great quality game they just get it. I don't really say anything to that person other than maybe pointing out where the flaws are if it's appropriate.

The second type of person pretends like it's an amazing game, that it's the best pokemon game ever. Usually they seek to rub the sales in people's faces which is the tribalism I was talking about. That person is wrong and it can be said so. For all the reasons mentioned there is no way to suggest it is actually a quality game. Sure a game doesn't have to be high quality to be enjoyed by people but lets not act like the emperor isn't naked.

@Yorumi so much this. It was quite disturbing seeing people not wanting the games delayed because it "has to" line up with the next set of merch be it toys in your kids meal, the anime, or the trading cards lmao. Oh well, emulation is a good friend in this case. I'll wait for gen 11 or something to see if pokemon is actually worth buying again.

@Yorumi,

I am not saying there are no issues, far from it, but the fact this game is selling well and it's supporters are happy should not be any issue at all, just the same way as people who have issues should not have any impact on those who like this game.

The main reason the people with issues do not like the sales figures "rubbed in their faces", as you put it, is because they do not understand why everybody does not feel the same way as them, just like with the games review scores, but you can bet your bottom dollar if the sales and reviews were poor, then they would be shouting from the rooftops about it, and of course it would somehow justify their complaints.

@Kirgo Great post, you got one thumbs up from me, and I agree with your views on the game. I'm having a lot of fun, 25 hours in.

@Yorumi,

" It's always amazing to me seeing tribalism on display. People are actually so radicalized by tribalism that they want a worse game just so long as their favorite corporation doesn't get criticized. Yeah you sure showed those people who want a better game, can you imagine how awful a person is for not wanting a worse game?

This cult of corporate worship is just weird. "

Or people just like the game and are not deluding themselves.

@LUIGITORNADO,

I have never said the complaints had no validity, but when it comes down to it most of the Pokemon fans simply do not care, as for fanboys there are examples on both sides of this debate.

Having read through the comments I repeat my sentiment from an earlier comment: I think everyone still getting upset about it should just find a way to move on.

I add that it is unhealthy to get so wound up about it. It is just a videogame.

@Yorumi I guess the question is does Pokemon want you to want to buy their game? Do they need to include all those things you've stated, the after game elements for the hardcore players? Sales were declining as the age of Pokemon buyers was rising, and that spells bad news for Pokemon in general. Young fans are simply more valuable in every sense than the 30+'s. I became a pretty casual Pokemon player after the first generation, and simply none of the content you're concerned about being removed affects me. I also never touched any of the secret base stuff or beauty contests etc. I've never seen a point for that sort of half arsed game in a game, when another title (like Animal Crossing) could do it full fledged and better. The game is neither better or worse as a result for me as a casual player looking to run through the elite 4 with his kid (which, by the by, resulted in a Switch lite and two copies sold). What % of their sales does it actually affect? Even if their sales stay stagnant, but they shift the average age of buyer back 10 years, they make more money via toys, cards, plush, pillow cases, and everything else.

In 2014 we were seeing articles like this asking the question "What will The Pokémon Company do to try and attract children to the franchise once again?": https://www.siliconera.com/pokemons-audience-growing-older/

the trend continues in 2017: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/290666/Nintendo_says_Pokemon_players_are_now_older_than_ever.php

I think we saw the answer in Pokemon Go/Lets Go. I think we're seeing it here. I think Nintendo wants two key groups of players: Casual gen1s that they can bring back in via nostalgia and a new generation. Frankly, everything you're concerned about, that's not graphical, is a non-issue for those camps. It's very possible that Nintendo is gambling on their ability to cut ties with the group that cares about it while capturing the new player base.

I think they could do more. I think they could have made the game better for older gamers. And I think that they have ALWAYS played it safe with the series because of the money involved. I'm just not sure that they're trying to make it for those players in mind anymore.

I also think that you're trying to rationalize people enjoying themselves, or feeling like it's the best Pokemon game yet, by writing it off with pop psychology. You believe that you can objectively prove that this game is not the best in the series, and therefore, anyone else that disagrees must be succumbing to tribalism, corporate worship, or "pretending" it's an amazing game, when quite frankly, they just might like it better. And no amount of rationalization on your part will change that. They might enjoy seeing/touting the sales, because they want the game to continue in the direction that its gone and not return to the direction that you want, even if you can't make sense of why.

@frogopus What you're saying though is that the way to attract the casual player is to make the laziest game possible. That somehow extra, optional content is causing them to lose the casual player. The games have less content and cost more money and you're trying to argue that's a good thing. That getting less game for more money is good.

Suubjectivism is quite frankly a silly philosophy that gets promoted now but is easily shown to be false and an impossible philosophy to live by. That leaves it as a shield used by people who can't defend their positions. To claim the world is just whatever you feel it is without any sense or logic or rationality is a recipie for, well irrational nonsense. The only "change in direction" is that the game has less content for everyone playing the game including those who just want to beat the E4. You're literally saying the direction you want it to continue in is offering less game with each iteration for more money. It's pretty easy to see the utter nonsense of subjectivism and why in this case it sure looks an awful lot like corporate worship.

@Yorumi,

This whole "Lazy" comment that the people who are not happy with the game keep touting is very subjective, I am pretty sure a lot of time and effort has gone in into the development of these games, of course they could have done things better, but to somehow suggest that the developer simply does not care is wrong, and again you seem to be saying that the people liking these games are misguided in some way, just because a gamer is more casual does not make them any less demanding, it's just their requirements from this game differ from yours personally, now this does not make either position correct or incorrect as they are just different viewpoints at the end of the day, why we have to have a definitive right or wrong with this issue escapes me.

@johnvboy things get compared to other things, that's where lazy comes from. In terms of money pokemon is the biggest franchise in the world ever. It has effectively unlimited resources. Can the game be said to be up to the standard of a Nintendo game on the switch(Nintendo owns a huge stake in pokemon so despite gamefreak developing it it is effectively a Nintendo game)? Compare it to BOTW, XC2, Mario Odyssey, even looking at older systems XCX or XC1. Other games like DQXI also shows the weakness of pokemon. While I often do lament the length of story modes pokemon still comes up short there. The typical jrpg now pushes 80-100 hours, the most generous estimates put pokemon at around 30 with no endgame to speak of. The animations are worse than what another dev did with a similar number of pokemon 15 years ago.

I keep reiterating all that to ask why then is the game so substandard? It's not for lack of resources, again largest franchise ever. So why is gamefreak not putting in the same effort that any other AAA dev is? Nintendo, SE, Bandai, etc are all putting in more effort in their games with less resources than gamefreak. So why is that? And before we say they were pressured by TPC which is basically Nintendo, I would say why is pokemon special? Nintendo is not at all afraid to delay a game, they just delayed AC, BOTW was delayed a lot, why would pokemon be the only game that can't have a reasonable development cycle?

"just because a gamer is more casual does not make them any less demanding, it's just their requirements from this game differ from yours personally."

No but by their own words they are less demanding. Story mode is nothing new in pokemon, it's always been there. So in terms of story this game is offering what it has always offered but everything else is cut. It also had a 50% price increase for objectively less content. There are numerous people saying this is a good thing, that you attract more casual players by offering less. So they are not as demanding, they are flat out saying they will accept less for more money. This is not a game that offers an equal amount of content that is just different from before, it is a game that offers far less content than ever before. People are not praising the game for offering different content they are praising it for offering less content. That is a way of saying they are far less demanding.

Another day, another article where people fight nonstop about Pokémon SwSh in the comment section.

Awesome game for me. Around 60 hours in it, greatly enjoying it. It could be improved in some aspects, of course.

@Yorumi

Seriously bud, just find another game series to enjoy. When every comment from you is a mini essay it is clear to see you need to get away from these games and find something else to enjoy.

These games aren't going to change, it is already confirmed future games won't feature all the monsters, you just have to accept it as the masses clearly have.

I mean this in a constructive way, not to be rude.

Great for Pokemon and Luigi's Mansion. Also happy for Ring Fit Plus.

@Yorumi
Can we stop arguing about Pokemon Sword / Shield ?
It will NOT changing anything with all of your complaints.
I have collected 5 badges from Gym leaders for 15 hours gameplay and i enjoyed the game with just the way it is quality.

@SBandy I enjoy having discussions about games and with other people. I really don't mind when people disagree with me and if I wasn't enjoying myself I'd just stop checking the topic. You don't need to worry about me I can take care of myself.

@Yorumi

Fair enough.

Nintendo hardware is KILLING IT....Wow

@Yorumi No, I'm saying the game needs to be cut down to 150 Pokemon each generation with no access to any others, even in post game. That the content you are upset about being removed may very well be a waste of dev time, and the content that remains is possibly what the majority of people want. The cut content is at best irrelevant and at worst, dragging down the rest of the game due to limited resources (although I agree that it sounds like they should have done more NEW considering what was cut, I'm glad the old is gone).

Being subjective is not Subjectivity. You're conflating the two. You can know that something is subjective without adhering to a strict black/white philosophy of Subjectivism or Objectivism. You cannot make an objective argument that beef tastes better than pork. You can make objective claims about fat content etc and how that affects taste, but you cannot, objectively, state that one tastes better. You can make a persuasive ARGUMENT that one game is better than another. But that argument can also fail to persuade, leaving a person still disagreeing with what you're claiming as objective fact. They could cite Pokemon design, the setting, the music, the story, or literally any other element that they feel is more important than the issues you dislike in determining the quality of the game. If those elements are more fitting to their taste, it is, for them, a better game.

And there's literally nothing stopping me from saying the cut content was objectively bad content. The casual content you cited (secret bases etc) was bad content. The hardcore content, was bad content. More content != good content. You've done nothing to PROVE that the cut content was good. You and others may like it, but that's subjective, now isn't it.

I can't offer a personal opinion on the game yet. I suspect I'll enjoy it and miss literally nothing that's been cut. I'll probably wish the graphics (particularly combat animations) were better. They should have been made better. I'll probably find the story pretty juvenile, just like every other recent Pokemon. I prefer the limited exposition of the earlier titles, but I get that it's writing to their audience. I'm sure it'll feel like more of the same, which I'll find nostalgic and enjoy it vicariously through my daughter's experience, while wishing they could have pushed the envelope a bit more. I suspect that I'll think of it as an 8, wishing it could have reached higher, or I may be disappointed with it enough to go lower. But I doubt anywhere near worthy of the fuss it's gotten.

@frogopus some of the cut content was the story content so yeah it's worse than the other games. The very thing the claiming the game needs was cut. The game has the shortest story, the least amount of content, the least options, and the worst performance and you're sitting here claiming that's what the game needs. You're literally arguing that games need to deliver less content for more money and be the least ambitious to attract more people. The lengths people will go to defend this.

@Yorumi nope i don't know what the story is. You just cherry picked. Please quote from my post where i claimed that's what was needed. Your response was entirely unrelated to anything i wrote. I've found the story content (writing/plot for clarity) to be juvenile in pretty much all of them (because it's a childrens game). I'm saying if someone said the story line (or pokemon design, music, setting, etc) was their favorite, you can't "objectively" disprove them. If this game sold to 11 million happy children, it's a success, no matter how convinced you are that you can demonstrate that it's a bad game that people shouldn't like. You can't make people stop liking pop music just because classical is better. You've convinced yourself that your opinion is rational and fact based, and are so flabbergasted that others are so STUPID, that you invent pop psychology/sophmoric philisophical interpretations to try to rationalize other peoples behaviors. Quite frankly i think the storyline in sesame street has gone down hill since i was a kid and I'm not sure i care for the new presentation from HBO. But hey, my kids love it and they try to appeal to adults with some guest star content. I'll probably not go rant on their message boards.

Million of people pay subscription each month to play World of Warcraft Classic. A 15 year old game that's been 20 years in development. Yes it looks pretty dated compared to Elder Scrolls Online. But the gameplay is still great.

What i meant is Pokemon on Switch don't have to have graphics like Final Fantasy XV to be great. (still looks pretty good imo)

@Anti-Matter,

Where would be the fun in that?, the mere suggestion that the angry core minority fans should just realize that the games are not designed for them anymore, and they should just move on is pure lunacy.

@frogopus,

The main problem with the minority core Pokemon fans is they have an basic idea of a perfect Pokemon game, but even they do not know how it would exactly take shape, they do however have a clear understanding of what they do not like, they will ask for a Pokemon game that is fresh and bursting with new ideas, while at the same time still clinging to the old games mechanics and Pokemon etc, so it's no wonder GameFreak do not cater for this as it would be impossible to please these people, so they will make a game for the mass audience as any developer would, of course this game could be better in many ways, but I as you refuse to accept the level of complaints aimed at this game, as it's nowhere near as bad as some are making out.

@Yorumi,

I have stated many times that there is no need to defend this game, and I do feel that GameFreak made a massive mistake even acknowledging the complaints of the core minority fans, it's their train set at the end of the day they can build it as they wish, if it does not suit the core minority anymore they can just move on from it, as they would with any product that they do not like anymore, not saying they can't complain however.

@johnvboy Wow. Just wow. Normally I pop my head in and it’s a few posts here and there, 20-30 at most but never a full blown meltdown like this.

@WiltonRoots,

I wondered where you had gone, I know you do love all this fun we have on here, I must admit I am always surprised at the complainers level of effort in each and every New Pokemon thread.

@johnvboy yep but this is a Japanese charts article. Normally it’s the domain of people wondering why x game is doing great, how the hell is y game back in the charts, and oh wow the Xbox sold over 100 units this week! Not this. 😬

@SmileMan64,

No you are totally wrong, you are only enjoying this mess of a game because of your blind loyalty to the Pokemon franchise, GameFreak have brainwashed you into accepting a poor game, but fear not a loyal band of minority internet warriors will save the day by complaining and making you out to be stupid for enjoying this game, and their complaints will of course lead to a complete revolution for the franchise next time round.

@WiltonRoots,

Ah but this article was bound to trigger the complainers because they want this game to fail, as this would in someway validate all their issues.

@Yorumi you mean the small tribe of small minded overly loud "fans" who couldn't stop moaning about a few missing pokemon when most would never have finished the dex in the first place...

Yeah those people sure are winning here..

This argument seems to be going in circles. I'll just add that I do think everyone, including @Yorumi, makes some really valid and interesting points. Points that I don't think shouldn't be easily brushed aside and should be discussed (in a civil manner obviously) because, as some have rightly pointed out, would not be brushed aside if this were any other game series or company.

@UmbreonsPapa,

I don't think anyone is brushing aside complaints, or stating there is no issues with the game, all I have ever said was it's up to Game Freak how they continue with their own franchise, and if they want to cater for the mass Pokemon audience rather than the core internet minority then it's up to them.

@UmbreonsPapa funny how all these complaints that are being brushed aside are the changes i believe the franchise needed to bring me back to it since Pokemon Pearl in 2007.

You can kick and scream about it all day long but the simple fact is that those changes have bought in a large number of newer fanbase at the expense of very few older fans. It's a trade off any company in their right mind would make.

Its really that simple.

I wouldn't call 179.989 vs. 8279 sold units "dominating". More like "destroying", "murdering", "humiliating", "murdering-then-resurrecting-than-killing-it-even-harder". 🤔

Can we take all the Pokemon discussion out of the sales articles? There are other places for that.

With regards to actual Japanese sales, Pokemon Sword/Shield is currently Nintendo's 3rd fastest-selling game ever, Ring Fit Adventure continues to sell whatever Nintendo ships, Luigi's Mansion 3 has sold very well but less than its predecessor, Mario & Sonic 2020 has good legs despite low launch sales, Switch evergreens continue to sell very strongly, and Switch hardware is flying off of shelves.

Meanwhile, Death Stranding has very poor legs, Star Wars sales are ok at best given the brand, and PS4 hardware sales are Wii U-esque.

@johnvboy GF totally has the right to make the game they want. I just think there's a feeling of GF not being entirely upfront about the direction they want to go and their really bad PR during the lead up to release had a part in that. But I agree and I also want to reiterate that I by no means feel I am entitled to any game developer to cater to my whims or desires. I do think if your gonna put yourself and a product out there for consumption, you have to expect there to be some questions and criticism. Again, keeping it civil and level-headed.

@Razer Fair enough. As I said before, there are some changes I have no problem with. Gimmicks in this series come and go. Sword and Shield has their own. It's been a hallmark of the series to try new things. At the same time, there are some changes that just seem to be far too over the top that didn't necessarily seem to be a hindrance to the series before. This is a small one being EXP Share. Why something like that couldn't remain optional is puzzling

Pretty wild comment section. Kinda funny how the same person who is accusing people of "corporate worship" and tribalism is clearly annoyed when people criticize EA and Activision. Man, you can't make this stuff up. 😅

On topic, great for Switch hardware and software all around. The OG model will probably hit 10M in Japan before the year is out.

@KryptoniteKrunch yep to me these articles are all about stats, not what was left out of a game. Westman provides figures, others try to rain on the parade and we all wonder why Microsoft bothers in Japan. Oh yeah the omnipresent Minecraft for the Switch! 😄