How much does fan feedback influence Game Freak?

[Imperator161]

With Nintendo's recent Direct (from last week), it seems like a lot of Nintendo fans of various franchises (Metroid, Paper Mario, etc.) are upset about a perceived lack of attention to their wishes (in other words, games have been announced/shown that go directly against what many fans have asked for). So far, though, Game Freak doesn't seem to have faced the same sort of backlash about Pokemon. Sure, there were a lot of complaints about the number of new Pokemon (or lack thereof) in X/Y, as well as numerous other elements, but by and large, Pokemon fans seem to be ok with the games, and the series predictably churns out new games and remakes of popular previous entries every year or so.

Overall, how much do you think fan feedback influences the gaming-related decisions that Game Freak makes? When fan desires match what's in a Pokemon game, is it coincidental, or does Game Freak try to cater to its fans? And what do you think the balance in Sun/Moon will be between what fans publicly yearn for and what Game Freak decides to offer us?

 

[VisualJae]

Having talked to developers face-to-face from different companies before, including AAA ones like Blizzard Entertainment, Activision and Microsoft, I can tell you for a fact that some fan feedback will be taken seriously, while the majority will be instantaneously laughed off.

At the end of the day, generally speaking, 99/100 times fans don't know what the hell they're talking about. The average fan is not the one who sees all the code and assets that make up a game. The average fan has no idea what are the necessary resources that go into a game's production. The average fan has no clue what the design roadmap looks like, what the production schedule looks like, who the investors are, etc.

Fans can scream and complain all they want, but they don't call the shots. If something obvious should be fixed, the company should have already hired people to address it at some point down the line (they may not necessarily publicly announce it, however). From my experience, points that fans complain about usually do get addressed if it makes sense for a game or franchise's longevity. How long it takes things to get addressed is dependent on the company's available resources and their internal roadmaps.

In Game Freak's case, considering how long they've been around with great success, I would be one to believe their staff knows what they're doing. What exactly are they doing and will be doing? How much of it is based on fan feedback and how much of it is based on their ideas? We won't know. But I can guarantee the majority of our ideas we pitch have already been covered on their end... probably a long, long time ago.

 

[Elysieum]

I've often wondered if anyone at Game Freak has read some of the content on this very website. PokéCommunity must be the largest forum of its kind, no? There are so many threads here that highlight flaws and strengths of every game in a well-reasoned way. It must be a valuable hub of opinions and suggestions for a GF insider.

 

[VisualJae]

I've often wondered if anyone at Game Freak has read some of the content on this very website. PokéCommunity must be the largest forum of its kind, no? There are so many threads here that highlight flaws and strengths of every game in a well-reasoned way. It must be a valuable hub of opinions and suggestions for a GF insider.

I would very much lean in favor of Japanese insider communities and friends/family/industry peers of Game Freak developers themselves first before digging into foreign fan communities.

And yes, while there are many thoughtful threads here, for every one insightful piece of feedback, there are dozens more that are poorly thought out/nonsensical. Considering there are no community managers here feeding information directly toward game developers, there is no filter for noise, making it vastly more difficult to collect valuable feedback.

I've worked as a community manager for a tech company before and I've dealt with collecting feedback from users and clients. It's not easy sifting through simple ignorance or the outlandish ideas that will never work from a development standpoint. You might find a gem once in a while, but I really mean once in a while. Game designers and developers are paid to think about these points every single day while at the office and during their off time. It's more than likely you or someone on the team already covered that one important point in a recent conference call. Kudos to the fan that thought of it, too. Maybe he's into game design or has a future in it.

Edit: That said, because it's so difficult to get solid feedback and ideas that you (developer) haven't thought of, fans/users/clients/etc. are always encouraged to share more of their thoughts whenever possible. The cycle just continues, hoping to get those gems more often.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The day fan feedback becomes a common trend for Game Freak to develop their games is the day I leave the franchise. Like what Visual Jae said, fans don't have the slight clue on what they really wanted, because they do eventually get what they wanted, they'll still complain. I've had an argument about this at the old Pokémon Z speculation thread, and I'm telling you, it's like speaking to a brick wall that's difficult to bulldoze. There's also the issue of copyright, where companies refuse to take ideas from fans in fear of lawsuit, so they'll only use ideas that are created in-house. Disney, for example, never hire critically acclaimed ride companies to build rides for their theme parks, nor do they take ride ideas from fans. They come up with ideas in-house and build them themselves.

 

[EC]

Disney, for example, never hire critically acclaimed ride companies to build rides for their theme parks...

Nonsense.

Magic Kingdom...
https://rcdb.com/9720.htm Vekoma (a critically acclaimed ride company)
https://rcdb.com/274.htm Vekoma
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain I'll give you. Those were designed by Disney himself.

Disney's Hollywood Studios
https://rcdb.com/560.htm Vekoma
https://rcdb.com/13377.htm No idea who is doing this one. Searches turn up nothing.

Disney's Animal Kingdom
https://rcdb.com/2389.htm Vekoma
https://rcdb.com/1566.htm Reverchon (I'll be honest and say I've never heard of them before, but it wasn't designed in-house by Disney)

Disney's California Adventure
https://rcdb.com/731.htm Intamin
https://rcdb.com/732.htm Mack Rides

Disneyland
https://rcdb.com/200.htm Arrow Dynamics
https://rcdb.com/202.htm Dynamic Attractions (again, never heard of them)
https://rcdb.com/295.htm Vekoma
https://rcdb.com/2491.htm Dynamic Attractions

And those are just the coasters in the United States parks. Any questions?

 

[Pyrax]

Having talked to developers face-to-face from different companies before, including AAA ones like Blizzard Entertainment, Activision and Microsoft, I can tell you for a fact that some fan feedback will be taken seriously, while the majority will be instantaneously laughed off.

Read: All those "THEY SHOULD HAVE ALL REGIONS IN ONE GAME!!" claims fall under the latter category.

I've often wondered if anyone at Game Freak has read some of the content on this very website. PokéCommunity must be the largest forum of its kind, no? There are so many threads here that highlight flaws and strengths of every game in a well-reasoned way. It must be a valuable hub of opinions and suggestions for a GF insider.

Close. It's actually one of the largest. Also keep in mind that GameFreak, being a Japanese company, would most likely prioritize looking into the largest Japanese communities before even considering foreign communities.

 

[_Dud_]

I think Game Freak will listen if a specific feature is in high demand. Have a look at Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity. Firstly, they removed the personality test, and there was quite high demand for it to be featured in the next Mystery Dungeon. Then, guess what? It was implemented in Super Mystery Dungeon. Though this occurrence alone could be a coincidence, I think Game Freak understands they can't survive forever without adapting slightly.