Pokémon Sword And Shield's Japanese Launch Event Has Been Canned

curry on rice

TPC is also holding off on sending out review copies due to the leaks

There was an article on a rumor stating that there was low morale at Game Freak by GoNintendo, it seems like its not a rumor at all

I wonder if this is because of a huge Japanese outcry about the dex cuts? Seems kind of weird to cancel a big event like this. And, combined with other bits of news, it seems like GF is damage-controlling hard.

@Ulysses Seems kind of pointless, honestly. The game was already leaked. No stuffing that genie back in the bottle.

It’s likely due to the numerous death threats and harassment Masuda and Ohmori have received. It’s foolish how many have been up in arms over video games as if they’re life or death.... Square Enix had to cancel an event due to threats to the management staff and a man was arrested for threatening to repeat the arson incident (Kyoto Animation) at Square Enix headquarters... It’s all fine and dandy to be upset about some of the choices made to the games but it’s really not that damn serious to go around threatening and harassing the developers over

GF exec looks at above picture

"...Oh crap! I just realized our grass starter is basically Pansage again! Cancel the release party! We got work to do."

Bummer. I'd love to be there but the Galar Border Control is strict.

@RupeeClock
Game Freak are clearly out of their depth with the increased pressures of current-gen development, handling all at once:

1) improving graphics to HD standards, which Nintendo themselves admitted was a large hurdle in the transition from Wii to WiiU

2) more involved world-building: from bigger, grandiose cities to the Wild Area

3) recreating every Pokemon model from scratch; this was a huge undertaking whether or not it was a wise thing to do

4) creating entirely new features/gimmicks; for whatever reason, Game Freak is convinced they cannot just pick from and improve upon their list of legacy features and must create entirely new mechanics

It’s just damage control. Sadly, the game will still be mediocre

"Pokémon Sword And Shield is shaping up to be one of the biggest launches of the year,"

Why do I feel like this says more about the year than Pokémon?

I'm sure there have been other big games this year but all that comes to my cold-addled brain is Days Gone and Shenmue 3, neither which were all that big. Kirby, SMM2, LM3, Astral Chain, good games, but not necessarily biggest launches. Last year was RDR2, next year is Cyberpunk, could have used a Metriod Prime 4 or Bayonetta 3 right about now.

Oh well, FF7R can't release every year, though maybe 7 of the next 19.

@ShikabaneHime13 Has there been death treats against him? I aren't disbelieving you, just that I'm surprised I haven't see news regarding this.

@rjejr Don’t forget Death Stranding!

Sounds kinda familiar, though it's not related whatsoever.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/10/blizzard_cancels_overwatch_switch_launch_event_leaves_nintendo_to_apologise_on_its_behalf

@Ulysses Well, #4 is important in keeping a game series fresh. But this particular entry could have probably gone without it to be handle the change to HD better.

@nessisonett Death what? When did that come out? 😉

Yeah, I really shouldn't post sick on the sofa with a head cold. 😝
I'm gonna go make a cup of coffee, you want a cup of coffee?

Whether they are necessary or not, cutting the dex that much and saying no previous starters yet here's one previous starter that we pick because it's our personal favorite is going to have one hack of a backlash, and sadly, not many folks have this really important skill called tact. Death threats over a game is pretty pathetic, and this is where it leads. It's fine to have objections to something in a game or something cut from a game, but death threats are beyond childish.

@ShikabaneHime13 It sucks that folks have to be periodically reminded that there are actual people working on these things.

And it almost always has to be someone having their lives threatened (or worse) before fans start to wonder if things are going too far or have a change of heart.

Generally speaking, fans of any series need to accept the fact that sometimes, as disappointing as some business/creative decisions might be, they dont always have the moral high ground; that expectations or demands can be unreasonable. That valid criticism doesnt give one free reign to be an out-and-out jerk.

That's a weird reason for it, but it can easily be connected to fan discontent about the games. They aren't happy about the cuts in japan, and given the Kyoto animation and Square Enix cases, they may be afraid that something happens there.

Makes sense Leaks are coming out of no were alot.

I feel sorry for them. I can't say the same thing for the people who keeps pressuring them. Selfish, childish, no tact. To the point they're becoming a pain in the arse around people.
Flame me.

In all honestly the very topic of "culling" Pokemon is so petty it's laughable. What's the point of having a new game if you want to hold on to old ones for dear life?

Anyway, I wish for their safety and security wherever they go. Death threats (if this is really the case) aren't to be ignored. Better to cancel than to risk lives. If the cancellation is just a way to let the heat die down...I guess that's good too.

Never imagined a Pokemon game would become a PR nightmare. Everywhere they go GF is getting their teeth kicked in by fans. No wonder their morale is at an all-time low.

GF just wants to get this launch over with. Frankly, I do as well.

Here come the conspiracy theorists...

@Ulysses Also another big point:

5) Pokemon has been made into an annual franchise likely a decision made by The Pokemon Company, not Game Freak. Annual franchises are very problematic as they generally leave no room for delays or extra time so problems arise from this.

Nevertheless, it's a very ugly situation but what the "fans" are doing is unacceptable.

The backlash is well-deserved. Maybe next time they’ll strive to deliver a game worthy of the Nintendo Switch.

They better give up developing Pokémon games and pass the torch to other, better and competent developers like Level 5.

Its kinda on them that all this negative stuff started happening. Usually when the PR is so bad for a game the community turns into wild animals. This sort of thing happens all the time and there is just nothing we can do about it, only the company can fix it.

It's the first time I'm following a Pokemon game launch (not counting Let's Go as it was more of remaster) and I have to admit that things seems pretty rough... As was not expecting big N to make so many stumble with such a big game (Mario Maker and Smash had pretty solid release).... Is it always like that? It seems the more and more info we get, the more and more people get pissed at the came, from the national dex, to the leaks, the cut Pokemon from the leaks ... Is it just me?

@RunGMhx Big N Nintendo doesnt make Pokemon games.

First impressions matter, and they started off good, but Dexit came and wiped all that. Masuda just repeated the same stuff that people never bought and NEVER SAID WHAT ELSE WE COULD DO WITH HOME. Slowly rebuilt a decent amount of hype, then the leaks came, and the outrage is slowly building up again.

Seriously, they focused priority of Little Town Hero over Pokemon, and look where this lead them, a game that's on average seen as subpar and a generation that may end up selling equal or less than Let's Go due to how the Dex is going to be, Charizard favoritism, and how the games aren't graphically as good as Game Freak boasted.

No matter what side you're on, one can agree things aren't looking good.

I'm just glad I enjoy pokemon for what it is and am not a die hard fan that cries over their fave pokemon being cut from the new game. I've not even watched a single video or read much in to these games so I couldnt tell you what to expect. I enjoyed let's go and everyone said it was a steamer so I'm sure I will enjoy these.

@Ardisan They don't make them but don't they own like a third of the Pokemon company? They must be in someway involved no? I've yet to see them really make dedicated presentation for some just generic 3rd party game no?

@Zyph the entire franchise is based around catching them all, I think it's pretty reasonable to want that all able to be caught

What a dumpster fire this is really turning out to be.

Of all the bad things going on with this release, I hope that at least the guys in charge of TPC realise making the core games annual releases is seriously hurting the franchise. GF is obviously not familiar with HD development, they need to have time to make good games again.

@Grumblevolcano that's the thing you pointed out. This decision probably came from the Pokemon Company(especially how games now must tie in with the shows' releases to a degree) and Game Freaks are just the folks who are stuck facing to try and make it happen so that games and game events happen in time with the shows and movies.

Since it's likely now the later that pull the former and puts pressure on them rather than the games driving the shows.

No wonder they have teams to work on stuff -other- than pokemon or else there would be so many more burnouts.

@RunGMhx they are part of the company which also include not just Nintendo but also the people in charge of the anime and movies and seeing how events in the past seem to have been timed to match movies and new seasons of the show, I get the feeling that the part of TPC in charge of the anime weights in heavily on a lot of decisions these days about timing and stuff.

@Ulysses Now, number 4, gigantamax is arguably an iteration over megas and z-moves. I mean, it's a form change, a stat boost, and an ability (which is much better than an unstoppable move that wipes whoever it's hit by). If anything it has the exact same function except it's limited to one per battle and more importantly, 3 turns. And for SP it can only be used in story battles and raids, the end. It's from where I'm sitting much better and does the same thing. I don't see the problem.

Also, did they rebuild all the models? They, assumably 8k models from the sun and moon games, because why wouldn't they? Even without that, they had let's go. Like, I saw a side by side machoke comparison. It's pretty obviously they just threw some shaders over everything. Which shouldnt be discounted as laziness, that's textures and light and reflections, but still, not new models is it?

@Ralizah,

I doubt the small amount of people complaining would bother them that much.

@somebread Well, you couldn't catch em all in one game since gen 3, you know, when they ditched that tagline. I mean, you could catch all of one regions pokemon, wait a year, and transfer, but you couldn't catch em all in almost 20 years.

I mean, as a casual player, the games still look really good. I mean, it's a slight improvement over sun and moon, but I haven't played a game since x and y, sooooo it's good to me.

@Zyph I agree. I mean pokemon are at best stickers. Realistically, people are getting mad over drawings and numbers. It's nuts

@MsJubilee,

The vocal internet forum fans are up in arms, everyone else is just looking forward to the game coming out.

@Franz,

Will you still be saying this when it's one of the best selling games on the switch?, truth is most Switch owners do not give two hoots for all this negativity and will buy this game in droves, as I have said many times internet forum posting haters are in the minority, but as usual some people on here like to pretend they are in the majority, which of course they are not.

I’ve seen that Japanese fans are really upset about dexit as well. Also for whatever reason they seem to not like Chris Turner’s Pokémon designs. May have something to do with that.

@johnvboy And ain't that a shame that the people with actual standards and ignored because something will sell regardless. You can defend them cutting corners and standing still all you'd like, for whatever reason, but there are people asking for more and apparently for once they're being heard, whether or not it effects this release, you're likely to get a better game in the future because of them.

One tradition you can count on, every summer Pokemon fans are going to start complaining loudly and bitterly on the Internet about how the newest Pokemon game completely sucks and GameFreak, TPC and Nintendo are all morons who should let someone else take over.

And every winter, GameFreak will release a new Pokemon game that will make squintillions of dollars and, a few years later, will be nostalgically remembered as one of the best loved games of all time.

@rjejr

Chicken soup is what you need man! Got a pot on the stove right now. With rice, not noodles but a lovely home made broth. Seemed the thing to make with us not getting past 25 degrees today.

Hope you feel better soon. (Have you gotten your flu shot yet?)

The comments here are so disgusting it is unreal. I cannot begin to explain how sick of it I am.

It is nothing but the loud, rude, minority. Just the preorder digital downloads are already in the top 10 best selling on the eshop right now!

We're getting the game, we're gonna have a blast! You folks should really find something to enjoy, because this isn't healthy.

It is not a matter of selling "anyway" it is that we like the game and are eager to have fun playing it. Vote with your wallet, we certainly will!

Don't like it? Play something else. Simple as that!

@johnvboy Respectfully, you are conflating two different points. Your point is sales numbers. Specifically, from what I understand, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you're saying that the backlash wouldn't matter because the game would sell anyway.

My point, on the other hand, is that the backlash is well-deserved, whether or not the game sells. Because this backlash is a direct result of the numerous excuses handed to us--which would supposedly improve the game and thus justify Dexit.

@Zeuseksy Oh my god a Level-5 pokemon game would be heaven!

Everyone blaming fans here. I’m sorry, but fan reaction is always going to be a constant. The PR nightmare that has been Sword and Shield is entirely on game freak.

@Franz
That's bollocks, that's not how the game industry works. They don't make games according to gamer's rants. They make the game. If you like you buy, if not don't. That's it. Is anyone complaining about Kojima's game? He made his freaking game. Do you see people harassing him just cause they don't like his way of seeing games? No. Would be the same for every game. It is not your property, it is the property of another company that is trying to sell you something. If you don't like it just don't buy. Stop acting like it's something that belong to you.
And even using the word Dexit as a callback to the Brexit is disgusting! Brexit is a bloody real thing, it will have serious repercussions on the whole world, 20 Pokemon left away won't.

@Franz I'm overjoyed with the dexit. Finally a chance to catch all available pokemon in one generation again instead of dumb transferring. And the amount of pokemon that you're able to catch in these games is in the top3 of all pokemon games. Other than that enough additions and the wild area looks great. I honestly don't know what all these people are complaining about and why pathetic excuses for human beings would see it as justification for horrible death threats

Part of their problem is keeping such a small staff for such a large franchise. The Pokemon team is simply too small for a series of its caliber and its finally catching up. They either need longer breaks between games or they need to restructure their development teams to meet the demand. Morale is reportedly low and the way Game Freak has kept quiet in regards to things like Pokemon total and after game while rejecting the idea of dlc or patches suggest that they are swamped on their current schedule. I hope if not for fans at least they will do something to make the lives of their staff members a little easier.

Honestly, fans are entitled to their stirred emotions specially when they have sunken their childhood/adulthood playing the series, investing time, money, and ultimately enabling Pokemon to be a household name. Look how much the franchise is worth!
My gripe is with the constant bad decisions gamefreak makes. Aren’t they suppose to be the experts who all love Pokemon.
-cuts team in half
-Pokemon half has to cover to some degree both SS and other associating Pokemon games/material
-acknowledges the tall order with HD implementation. Retrain your staff? You knew this was coming!
-choses to cut the dex, doesn’t offer explanation of how the team comes to the decision of what stays and what doesn’t.
-Chooses to focus on introducing new mechanics when time is admittedly constraint
-Terrible PR choices. Still insulted about that 24hr live feed stunt just to show glimpses of ponyta.
Iv speculated a lot of the above. But imagine if GF didn’t do any of those. Pokemon sword and shield would be in way better condition it is looking like

@Sunanootoko No work is, or should be, immune to criticism. You make something and you put it out there to be critiqued. That's art. And there are a number of instances where gamers have critiqued a game, game developers took the criticisms on board, and made their game better. I don't subscribe to the "Shut up and take it" mentality. Speak up.

It's never as reductive as "You don't like it, don't buy it." That's a simplistic way of thinking and you know it. Or I hope you do.

@Peshokinha I don't know if there had been death threats in this particular case, but it goes without saying that death threats are indefensible.

@johnvboy The vocal majority is demanding a better game. GF has enough experience(or so I thought) to give us that better game. If you're happy with having low standards that's on you. But me and many others do not, everyone else is improving while GF is still running in circles looking for the next dumb gimmick.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The backlash was well deserved.
This is what happens when you lie to your fans.

@Heavyarms55 I'm sorry, but have you read the Consumer & Competition Act 2010? You probably didn't because it's an Aussie thing, but Game Freak has been continuously breaching this Act. If Zenimax was forced to refund FO76 owners then I'm sure they can force Nintendo to do the same.

@TheAwesomeBowser I'm American, so that Competition and Consumer Act 2010 isn't something I'm familiar with. Could you point out HOW Game Freak is often breaking this law exactly ? It's blatantly obvious that Zenimax allowed a game that looks like it's still in early alpha build, and Bethesda blatantly lied, so they deserve it, but I'm honestly wondering what you're referring to with Game Freak being a repeat offender. Even subpar, all Pokemon games ARE complete games on a technical standpoint, and they didn't lie excessively about what the games do have. (Hard to say about SwSh though) I'm honestly scratching my head about this.

No matter what your problems might be with the game, no developers deserve harassment or death threats. At the end of the day, it's just a video game. Have some perspective.

@TheAwesomeBowser As an American living in Japan, why would I read Australian law?

"Operational reasons" sure seems like a coded phrase for "credible death threats" to me, but I could be wrong.

@Saro Misleading claims such as 'the assets aren't reused' breach Schedule 3, Volume 2, Chapter 1, part 4 of the Consumer and Competition Act 2010. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

@Heavyarms55 See above.

Can we please all take a chill pill and wait with complaining how bad this game is UNTIL IT IS ACTUALLY RELEASED.

The death threat thing is out of line. I guess they are victims of their own success. Fame/success often attracts fringe personalities.

But less people would be frustrated if the frustrations were less. The Apollo program cost around $26 billion and put man on the moon. Pokemon as a franchise has had revenues of nearly $100 billion, I think. I haven't played since Black, so I wouldn't call myself a fan but even I was getting excited about Pokemon on Switch. Not everything had to be done at once. New areas or regions and Pokemon could be delivered as dlc. It's too early and I couldn't sleep so ignore all of this.

@TheAwesomeBowser I can DEFINITELY see that with SwSh animation and returning Pokemon models being WAY too similar to XY and Let's Go ones and their claim of them being made from scratch. There may be a strong enough case there this time around. I don't see much foul with 3DS era games, as they didn't claim to make the sprites of the old Pokemon from scratch with Gen 7. Keyword on "Misleading" as you've said, so that's why I see this being okay for Sun and Moon. Ultra games are more debatable and potentially guilty.

I’m excited to play the game next week.

@Franz an undeserved death treat is one thing, but it's worse when someone actually acts on it. additionally canceling something over a death treat can give the one(s) who sent it the delusion of victory. might make em sloppy and inadvertently reveal themselves, or it might just make em double down. either way the only way to truly deal with a death threat would be to track down the one who sent it, which can't always be done.

@ShikabaneHime13 Can you or anyone else provide a link to said threats of death? I want proof, not baseless fan rumours.

@MsJubilee,

It's not a majority though, you keep saying this when it a few people on the internet.

@Franz,

I am stating the mass majority of Switch owners will love this game, the main complaints are coming from the internet posting fans, this does not mean any of their complaints are valid, it just means they personally are not happy, that's a very far cry from everybody is up in arms.

@SpaceboyScreams,

Again this is very subjective, because if they were to cater for every fans whims you would never get the game released, and it always surprised me when fans want new Pokemon, while clinging to certain older ones for dear life, they state they want radical changes to the game play, while keeping the core look and feel of the games the same...it's a no win situation for the developers with these guys.

@Heavyarms55,

If only it was that easy, but the very vocal internet posting minority will complain no matter what Game Freak do, they will try to convince everybody their concerns are real and shared by the majority, when in effect they are a few whining people on the internet, their complaints will have little to no effect on future titles, unless of course these games bomb, which of course they will not.

@LUIGITORNADO,

There's no PR nightmare, Game Freak have released details of the game and certain fans have reacted badly to that news, then Game Freak have felt the need to respond to these issues, this in my opinion was not the correct thing to do.

A guy I work with has Ps4 and Xbox One, he is buying a Switch for this new Pokemon game, he has played every Pokemon game since he was a kid, in his words "These are the Pokemon games he always wanted to be released, and the look and feel of these new titles are perfect, I am pretty sure a large percentage of Switch owners will feel the same way, of course they are wrong because a few vocal people on the internet have said so.

If the thing about death threats is true.... Just wow. It wouldn't surprise if it were true either, the hate towards Pokemon, Game Freak and anyone who's excited for Sword and Shield has become beyond toxic at this point. And this is just from me reading posts on here, which is just a small sample size compared to the entire internet.

People acting like GF are the devil, calling anyone who's excited for Sw/Sh "shills", "fanboys" and everything in between. I knew the Pokemon hatedom was toxic, but sometimes you just gotta move on, not worth threatening the developers life over it.

@johnvboy your “logic” can be applied to the differing opinions.

People will buy Sword and Shield. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been brand damage.

@LUIGITORNADO,

I guess we will have to see how the sales go to determine if there is any real brand damage, of course the naysayers will always claim people will buy anything if the games sell well, this is of course absurd.

@johnvboy there are posts with thousands of likes, videos with tens of thousands of views all calling attention to the problems that Pokémon Sword and Shield are having.

For the life of me I don’t understand the blindness people like you choose to exhibit towards these problems. At the very least being vocal about things that they dislike may result in GameFreak making a better game in the future. That’s how consumerism works. They sell a product, and we provide feedback.

But sure, bask in the glow of a Pokémon game selling millions of copies. Your foresight for such a prediction means you are right and thousands of others are wrong for calling out animations that are clearly awful.

@johnvboy Their issues are fine. I have no problem with people being upset that the game isn't what they wanted because it doesn't have the national dex or they don't think the animations are nice enough.

My issue is the rampant, constant, endless, stream of anger. They seem to think that because they don't like it, every must not like it. And they have not even given the game a chance, have not played it and yet are labelling it bad, terrible, unplayable, etc...

@Heavyarms55,

I have no issues either with people not liking this game, it's up to them at the end of the day, my issue is when they make out to be in the majority, and anyone who does not have the same complaints are somehow wrong, when in fact it's all peoples personal opinions at the end of the day.

@LUIGITORNADO,

So the videos have 10 thousand likes or views, this pales in comparison to the potentially 15 million plus people who will buy these games, as I said the people with issues are at best niche, so it's not blindness as you put it, it's a complete lack of understanding on the moaners part as to the fact they are a small amount of people.

So throwing this right back at you, if these games do sell well then is it not the small amount of moaners that are wrong?.

Now I know this will be tough for you because you are used to speaking to people on internet gaming forums, effectively people in bubbles speaking to people in similar bubbles, that the mass majority of the Switch user base will not give two hoots for how the animations look on the latest models, as they have other things to do with their lives than play video games.

@johnvboy keep trying to diminish the criticisms by saying they’re the minority. It does nothing for your argument.

Like it or not, gamers on the internet are influencers. They have brought change to game developers and GF has recognized this by addressing the complaints.

The games will sell, but that does not men 100% of those who bought the game will be pleased with the experience after they play it.

@LUIGITORNADO,

They are hardly going to influence a lot with 10 thousand views, now you are just talking no sense at all.

@johnvboy and yet they seem to have gotten Game Freak’s attention.

Is that a bad thing? Is it really bad for consumers to voice their criticisms of a company in hopes they improve their games?

You seem to be caught up with idea that the game selling millions of copies negates any sort of criticism. It’s very ignorant of you.

Don’t you want a better product?
The animations are objectively poor, the lack of a national dex is a valid complaint, and so is the lack of innovation between products

@LUIGITORNADO,

I am not saying people can't complain, it's their right, however the amount of changes it brings is subjective, Gamefreak responded because they wanted to do so, I doubt they believed the whole franchises sales were somehow in trouble for a few moaners on the internet.

It's no more ignorant than you and others suggesting that the people who have no complaints are wrong, I would much rather trust the overall majority that will love these games, rather than the small amount of complainers who to be honest would moan no matter what Gamefreak came up with, their idea of a perfect Pokemon game is impossible.