Game Freak, the studio behind the main Pokémon games, has announced that it wants to focus on developing more titles outside the saga. Although they release a new game every year, as is the case with the latest Pokémon Scarlet and Purple, the company does not want to remain tied to a single franchise.
This was announced by Masao Taya, director of the latest game released by Game Freak: Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On. Recently released for Apple Arcade, this title belongs to the Pocket Card Jockey saga, whose main title was released for Nintendo 3DS in 2013 (in Japan, three years later in the rest of the world) and shortly after on Android and iOS.
Pocket Card Jockey mixes horse racing with the card game Solitaire. Players get on the back of a horse, controlling a customizable jockey. Through a simple storyline but combined with dozens of races, the game managed to be quite successful on its initial release, which it wants to repeat now with this new version that updates the graphics and slightly modifies the gameplay.
“We believe it is very important for the studio to continue to create and release titles outside of the Pokémon series,” Masao Taya explained in an interview with Axios. “In recent years, the resources needed for game development have grown and grown, so the creation department has tried a development style based on working with external studios,” he clarified, making it clear that this could be the model to follow in the coming years.
