Soapbox: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet shouldn’t be 2022 releases

[bobandbill]

My opinion which is def always right - but I reckon there are valid reasons for this. Please check it out and let me know what you think! I really do feel it would be better as a (late) 2023 title, and we had spinoffs to satisfy us instead.

 

[Louise90]

I agree with you I was so shocked when we got gen 9 though it would be next year I am still happy with peal and the other game we got at the start of the year and yes I am still happy with sword doing the max lair dens

 

[Palamon]

I agree, but it was inevitable they'd be released this year...but, maybe Sword and Shield & Violet and Scarlet were developed at around the same time, and different teams were working on them within Game Freak's headquarters.

 

[Corrin]

It's too soon. You just know there will be excessive crunching and employee burnout. It's just unethical to me.

 

[Kieran]

People seems to be forgetting that Gamefreak is much larger than they think they are. They had said multiple times that whilst a team is working on a game, another is working on another.

Did not came as a surprise to me, and I am anticipating the games.

 

[Palamon]

People seems to be forgetting that Gamefreak is much larger than they think they are. They had said multiple times that whilst a team is working on a game, another is working on another.

Did not came as a surprise to me, and I am anticipating the games.

Exactly what I'm thinking. Game Freak is definitely not the size it was back when the older generations were coming out.

 

[Duck]

Even though GF is not small, it does seem a bit weird that they're producing so many AAA games this quickly - and in the case of the last few entries, looking unpolished, unoptimized and/or without proper QA.

It's not impossible to make good games in such a timeframe, iirc SMO was also made in a 3 years-ish timeframe, and it's extremely well regarded, but it does look like the games could use some time to get some polish.

Of course, this doesn't really matter because the unpolished versions are still selling like hotcakes, but a boy can dream.

 

[Fairy]

As long as they didn't pawn it off on an outside company (looking at you, Ilca Inc.), I think it definitely has a chance to be as good as, or better than any of the most recent of Pokémon games.

 

[bobandbill]

People seems to be forgetting that Gamefreak is much larger than they think they are. They had said multiple times that whilst a team is working on a game, another is working on another.

Did not came as a surprise to me, and I am anticipating the games.

I'm not one of those - I even mentioned there are multiple teams in Game Freak in the article, and pointed out it's done good work before with Platinum and HGSS (which AFAIK is the first clear case we know of GF using teams for Pokemon games; maybe gen 3 was the case before, but not sure). But of late? I don't think the team approach is enough for these games, which have 3D modelling and etc (harder than 2D), and with the same or less time between releases than a decade ago. (DP and Platinum had a two year gap for a third version game, B2W2 also had 2 years after BW, or at least 1.5 years, to build on the existing region; USUM was only a year after SM, so the time was decreasing between releases. Dev time may still be the same, but 3D is harder than 2D, and I do feel we've seen worse in this regard in gen 8. BDSP was very buggy and required a day 1 patch as well - likely due to time crunch.)

As long as they didn't pawn it off on an outside company (looking at you, Ilca Inc.), I think it definitely has a chance to be as good as, or better than any of the most recent of Pokémon games.

Doesn't seem that way; the trailer was clear about Game Freak being the developer.

 

[PkmnTrainerElio]

I agree... With the way how X and Y, Sun and Moon and Sword and Shield felt incomplete, I won't mind any delays if need be. We got Legends: Arceus last month, so technically, that should keep us going well into next year...

 

[Fairy]

Doesn't seem that way; the trailer was clear about Game Freak being the developer.

Oh yeah, duh, they had the Game Freak logo literally in the trailer lmao. My bad.

 

[90210]

I used to ask the same thing but not anymore. They may need it so that other things that come with the game can keep going and gen 8 is technically 3 years old by the time gen 9 comes out so I do not think it should be a surprise at all.

 

[ThomasWinwood]

I would guess that team A started work on Scarlet and Violet after Sword and Shield shipped in 2019, while Legends Arceus was the responsibility of team B after they finished development on the Let's Go games in 2018. It looks like Legends Arceus was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the squish we're seeing in 2022 isn't actually Game Freak increasing development over what they've done for the past decade.

 

[Ho-Oh]

I would guess that team A started work on Scarlet and Violet after Sword and Shield shipped in 2019, while Legends Arceus was the responsibility of team B after they finished development on the Let's Go games in 2018. It looks like Legends Arceus was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the squish we're seeing in 2022 isn't actually Game Freak increasing development over what they've done for the past decade.

Off-topic but wow imagine that now PLA is out we get Let's Go Johto in 3 years? Hell yeah!

On-topic but yeah for me the 2022 thing makes sense as there already was a three year gap between the previous "main" games. It's not like everything would be brand new too - they already have models etc to go off and I'm sure when they come up with ideas for Pokemon there are bound to be some that just don't feel like they would fit in with that generation so they save them for later. Same for other concepts and ideas. I'm sure somewhere they have a gigantic SharePoint (or equivalent) of shafted ideas and inspiration to design from. So in that sense it makes sense.

 

[PageEmp]

I totally agree with the thread title, but am I the only one who puts Legends and Let's go in the same category? And personally I feel it's a better idea for gen2 to get a Legends game in two years.

 

[adelgirl]

I agree, I was saying before it was announced that I hoped if they announced gen 9 that it got a 2023 release. But, timewise even though it feels rushed it is releasing in that 3 year new gen timeline we have gotten since black and white. It makes sense to release when it is, they have to release during the holiday seasons for a new gen, holiday sales are how they make most of their money from families buying as gifts.

 

[bobandbill]

I would guess that team A started work on Scarlet and Violet after Sword and Shield shipped in 2019, while Legends Arceus was the responsibility of team B after they finished development on the Let's Go games in 2018. It looks like Legends Arceus was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the squish we're seeing in 2022 isn't actually Game Freak increasing development over what they've done for the past decade.

I wonder if we'll ever get confirmation one way or the other on if PLA was delayed due to covid or not? I don't recall seeing anything on that, just speculation.

But as to the rest, there was also the DLC for SwSh, which I recall was lead by a younger member of the dev team, so... team b? Or a C even? They were still pretty busy either way, and had something substantial being worked on each year.

I totally agree with the thread title, but am I the only one who puts Legends and Let's go in the same category? And personally I feel it's a better idea for gen2 to get a Legends game in two years.

As spinoff-esque titles? I suppose that makes sense - Let's GO was a bit different too after all, although battling mechanics were still closer to other main series titles than Legends was.

I agree, I was saying before it was announced that I hoped if they announced gen 9 that it got a 2023 release. But, timewise even though it feels rushed it is releasing in that 3 year new gen timeline we have gotten since black and white. It makes sense to release when it is, they have to release during the holiday seasons for a new gen, holiday sales are how they make most of their money from families buying as gifts.

It does - but they could have stuck to BDSP last year, put Legends in as a holiday release this year rather than an unusual February release, and then SV next year. Fill in the year with another spinoff or two, everyone wins.

 

[tigertron]

I just want GF to take their time with each new generation and just focus on the polish. The latest Pokémon games aren't known for their polish which is really disappointing considering GF used to have a reputation for quality titles (the older gen games).

 

[Sheep]

I just want GF to take their time with each new generation and just focus on the polish. The latest Pokémon games aren't known for their polish which is really disappointing considering GF used to have a reputation for quality titles (the older gen games).

I'd like this too; I am absolutely all for the team taking however long they need to develop new games. But sadly it seems they're forced to be on a certain schedule and have to pump these games out on specific deadlines to coincide with anime/merch/TCG/etc releases. It's sad, especially knowing the overtime they probably work to make their deadlines, but I'm not sure it'll ever change. :(

Totally agreed with a preferred release of 2023 or later and not 2022.