If you are into catching cute yet powerful creatures and using them to battle other people, then Pokémon is the perfect franchise for you. Pokémon is currently the highest-grossing media franchise in the world, and it has brought in a total revenue estimation of more than $98 billion. The franchise has been captivating the world since 1996, and if you were born somewhere during the 90s, then chances are these pocket monsters were your entire childhood.
Although Pokémon has seen a lot of success and growth over the years, the franchise really fumbled on its latest games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Let’s delve deeper into why the game did not do so well and how the developers are reacting.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was a disappointment
Before Pokémon became the biggest franchise, Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the franchise, started his humble beginnings with his first game, Pokémon Red and Green. The title eventually gained more popularity through the years and brought about other forms of media, like a manga series, an anime series, and even a live-action movie. Decades later, the franchise continues to evolve, bringing new innovations with each generation.
In 2022, Game Freak, the developer of Pokémon games, released their latest installment in the franchise, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and while the games were praised for various new elements, they received extreme criticism because of their poor graphical fidelity and rampant bug problem (not the cute Pokémon sub-type kind)
In an interview between The Guardian and The Pokémon Company’s COO, Takato Utsunomiya, when asked about whether the developers were paying attention to the criticisms for their latest game or not, he replied that they are aware of the backlash and are just not responding to it.
Regardless of whether we publicly respond, we’re always paying very close attention to the feedback and conversations happening in the communities, there are certain aspects where we can’t always be 100% aligned with what parts of the community are asking for and what we want to provide. But we do this with the desire to keep Pokémon going for a very long time, and I believe that the fans and players are aligned with us in that respect.
Utsunomiya also mentioned how they cannot always align with their audience and hopes that the audience understands this aspect as well. Scarlet and Violet are the first installments in the ninth generation of the franchise, and although the title received a bad reception, the game sold over 26 million copies as of December 2024, making it Nintendo‘s biggest launch of all time.
Game Freak should learn from their slip-ups and make a better game
Pokémon is no less than a world-changing phenomenon. Instead of just games and movies, the franchise is now trying to seep into the lives of their audience with new Poke-related hygiene apps. Through the years, it feels like the franchise has been less about battling monsters and more about products that just appeal to the nostalgia of playing the games for the first time.
Fans of the series were all excited for the new Pokémon games, but instead of something that would blow gamers and fans away, both the games turned out to be a disappointment. Whether Game Freak would take this as a chance to aim higher and be better, or they will release another disappointment in the future is still unknown. One thing we know for sure is we will be eagerly waiting for a game that takes us back to our childhoods.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
