The Pokémon Company indicates that they are aware of the factors that compromise the quality of their games, citing their frequent release schedule as one of them. Read on to learn more about the possible future of Pokémon releases.
The Pokémon Company Voices Possibility of Slowing Game Releases
Pokémon Release Schedule Under Discussion
In an interview with ComicBook.com, The Pokémon Company COO Takato Utsunomiya mentions that they are having internal "conversations" regarding the "constant release" of the Pokémon games with respect to maintaining quality.
Their latest flagship game, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, was released in November 2022 with many technical issues, such as graphical errors, glitches, bugs, and exploits. It was widely criticized by many outlets, with even IGN giving the game a mediocre score of 6 out of 10 and YouTubers like The Act Man picking it apart. Akin to what happened with No Man's Sky's release, the internet had taken it upon themselves to discover the funniest or wildest glitches in the game and share it with the world. Nintendo even had to apologize to their players in their 1.1.0 patch notes, mentioning that they were aware of the game's issues and working hard to improve everybody's experience.
"I think in general, if you look at the past, the path we've taken up until now has been this constant release, always regularly releasing products on a fairly fixed kind of a cadence, you might say. Always having these products able to be introduced and new experiences for our customers, and that's how we've operated up until now," Utsunomiya answered via a translator.
It's worth noting how many Pokémon games have already been released for the Nintendo Switch alone, despite its relatively short six-year lifespan. As of today, nine Pokémon games have been made for the console, 13 if you count the other versions of the same games like Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, or Pokémon Sword & Shield. That tallies to more than one game per year, which is a lot, even if some of these games don't share the same developer.
"I think we're still operating in that way, but there's more and more conversations, as the development environments change, about how we can continue to do this, while making sure that we're ensuring really quality products are also being introduced."
Even though the interview with Utsunomiya did not clearly indicate whether there will be a less hectic release schedule for future Pokémon games, they do show that they acknowledge that the frequent releases influence their quality.
Pokémon Is Still One Of Nintendo's Biggest-Selling Franchises Despite Scarlet & Violet's Rocky Release
Even after all of the initial scathing reviews of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, both games have still managed to top Nintendo's charts on release. It has sold over ten million copies for both its digital and physical versions within three days between the two games. By comparison, the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, considered to be one of the most highly anticipated sequels, also sold about the same number of copies within the same period.
Though many have voiced dissatisfaction with the terrible quality of Scarlet & Violet, many still adore the franchise greatly, with the Orlando Regional Championships this 2023 being the largest in the game's history, with around 780 participants using these latest iterations to battle.
The Teal Mask, the first part of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's DLC "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero," will be released this September 13. Part two of the DLC, The Indigo Disk, will follow later this year.
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The Pokemon Company's COO Addresses Possibility of Slowing Down Game Releases
