Could it be?

[httpdelrey]

So, We basically now know there will be no Gyms
Do you think it will be an Alola-Only thing
Or it will spread to Gen 8 and further...?

 

[MegaKuriboh]

I feel like this might be an Alola only thing, but they could very well give other regions their own replacements for Gyms if they choose not to bring them back. It just wouldn't make sense for them to be like "Thanks to Alola's culture, they don't have Gyms but instead trials", it just wouldn't make sense for other places to copy that. Kanto never said it's culture was to have Gym battles, that was just a Pokemon thing in general.

 

[TheLegendaryGuy]

I think, and I hope it will be an Alola-only feature. First of all, all the regions won't be mainly comprised of islands, and so, there wouldn't atleast be any 'island challenges'.
They could be known by different names, but I think that the creators are going to uphold the tradition of gyms, forever.
Secondly, I have been waiting for a dark type gym since almost the very beginning, and I hope that the Pokémon Company won't dare not to fulfill my wishes(i know, that was just a lame joke!).

 

[clbgolden]

Hard to say. I'm betting gen 8 will go back to the normal gym system, but in later gens I can see them using something different again.

 

[Altairis]

Whoa, we don't even know everything about gen 7 and now we're moving on to gen 8? It's gonna be years until we find out the answer to this question :p

 

[Hikamaru]

I personally do agree the Island Trials might be an Alola-only thing, since the region is based on Hawaii and its heavily referencing Hawaiian culture. It is what's going to make Alola unique since as shown, it has a different culture to the other regions but I think traditional Gyms will still return in the 8th Gen region and so on.

I just hope in future generations Gym Leaders would have more of an important role than just sitting there and letting you beat them and that be the extent of the interaction. I want them to be involved, damn it! ;_;

Also, this.

Gym Leaders that actually did more than just hand you your badge was one of the things Unova got right.

 

[Rivvon]

As long as there's a Dark-Type Gym Leader I honestly have no other preference regarding the future of Gyms. Like, there can be no Gyms, no Island Trials, nothing--we're talking Orre levels of "no Gym" here--except one lone Gym in the region with a Dark-Type Leader and I'll be happy.

Well that's not quite true. I think there's a lot of charm having a good number of NPCs to look forward to meeting and challenging, so I'd hope they stay in some regard. Even if it's as Island Trials, which are really just Gyms Outside™ so I wouldn't mind if gen 8 used a similar system as long as they don't turn out to be too tedious.

But I need a Dark Gym.

 

[Esper]

I'm sure the response to Sun & Moon will influence whether they do or don't have gyms in future games. If there is a positive response to these trials then GF might go further with the idea. But from what we can see there doesn't seem much of a change. Perhaps more of a focus on puzzles or quests, but with the same basic idea of beating increasingly difficult challenges.

 

[MidnightSkye]

I have a feeling GF will be really changing things up on NX. (Since that seems the once choice for Pokemon to go for Gen 8.) I mean if it is powerful enough for the new Zelda imagine what they could do with pokemon

 

[Lunar]

Now that they've finally changed the forumula after 20 years I think they won't be so afraid to mix things up a bit in future generations, that being said I think gyms will still be a thing in future generations, but Game Freak might just change it once in a while.

 

[Hikamaru]

I have a feeling GF will be really changing things up on NX. (Since that seems the once choice for Pokemon to go for Gen 8.) I mean if it is powerful enough for the new Zelda imagine what they could do with pokemon

It hasn't been officially stated if the NX will be the 3DS successor or not.

 

[LucarioFan3]

It wouldn't make any sense for the NX to be a 3DS successor anyways. The 3DS is selling just fine and most of Nintendo's handhelds usually last much longer than five years. If it's a successor to anything, it's going to be the Wii U.
... That said it's probably best to put that topic to rest.


Onto the main topic: honestly, Gyms are probably coming back next gen. Sun and Moon's in a very similar situation as Black and White were: two games that were released on a handheld that already had their own set of Pokémon games (and even a set of remakes). Black and White were made to be as different as they could be from Diamond/ Pearl/ Platinum/ HG/ SS: thus no old Pokémon until the post game (which was a bad idea but I digress), more emphasis on plot, breaking the regular "third game" rule, etc.

 

[Benermerut]

I feel that gyms will return, but they might take a few cues from the island challenges. By that I mean that we might have to complete more varied challenges before we get to face the gym leaders, rather than just the mazes and trainer gauntlets of the past.

 

[KipKipFox]

I hope it will just be an Alolan thing. It would just feel weird to get rid of gyms permanently.

 

[Harmonie]

Black and White were made to be as different as they could be from Diamond/ Pearl/ Platinum/ HG/ SS: thus no old Pokémon until the post game (which was a bad idea but I digress), more emphasis on plot, breaking the regular "third game" rule, etc.

I disagree. Being someone who clung to a lot of the same Pokemon over the generations, playing through Black without the option of any of those Pokemon was very refreshing.

 

[kingdenas]

I think this "no-gyms" thing might be exclusive to Alola, since Island Trials point to the Hawaiian culture. But since GF actually risked changing the formula, there might be some changes in the future, without eliminating gyms from existence. Honestly, I love gyms, but what I really want to see is Gym Leaders being a part of the plot.

 

[blue]

Island Trials and Leaders seems like something that would be most fitting for Alola given that there are multiple islands to travel between. I can't see how it would work if the next generation is just one whole Region. I suppose they could change it up and add a similar format, but I'm mostly expecting Gyms to return for the next gen.

 

[JOBO]

I wouldn't mind if the following games continued a different gym/challenge set up. The whole defeat the gyms, collect the badges thing was getting really stale. I feel like the island challenges will give the leaders more of an identity in the story and make them feel like they are actually influencing how the story progresses. Gym leaders, for the most part, have played minor and sometimes even forgettable roles that don't really impact the game aside from being required checkpoints.

 

[demifiend700]

Hopefully the no gyms thing is only for Sun and Moon.
I feel like they were such a big part of Pokemon that it would be sad to see them gone for good.