While it’s frustrating as fans to see The Pokémon Company churning out games like clockwork without much concern for maintaining a certain level of quality, from a business perspective, it’s entirely feasible: we’ll make a killing even if we release a simple remake, so why put in extra effort? ‘Pokémon Scarlet/Purple’ came out with bugs galore, and this time fans didn’t hold back their discontent. Will this dissatisfaction be enough to rouse the company from its seemingly eternal slumber?
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In an interview, Takato Utsunomiya, one of the company’s executives, stated that while there won’t be any changes for now, they are considering many things about the future of a franchise that releases everything from sleep apps to odd blends like ‘Pokémon Legends: Arceus’, leading to a market saturation to some extent and without much restraint.
“I think if you look at the past, the path we’ve taken so far has been this continuous release, always putting out products regularly in a fixed cadence, one could say,” he explained. One might argue that quantity without quality is meaningless, but considering the success of ‘Let’s Go Pikachu!’, one cannot make a similar assertion.
Would we like a fully open-world game in the franchise with the graphical quality of ‘Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘? Of course. But all signs point to us having to wait patiently. “We’re still operating that way, but there are more and more discussions, as development environments change, about how we can continue to do this while ensuring we also introduce products of true quality.”
‘Pokémon‘ fans have grown up since the Game Boy era, and I believe we’re ready to see all sorts of games. The market exists, the demand is there, the possibility is evident, and there’s money for everyone. And if they have to spend five years developing it, a ‘Let’s Go Chikorita’ would more than cover the funding, wouldn’t it?
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