REPORT: GameFreak Will Have More Development Time for Pokemon 

After this, check out my full retrospective for Pokemon on Switch! It was quite the rollercoaster ride: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YtfXWCXVD3o.html

You don’t understand how FAST I clicked after reading the title!

I’ll believe it when I see a high quality polished game. Actions speak louder than words.

If GameFreak get more time to develop games then that would be brilliant. I love Scarlet and Violet but they needed more time to polish off the issues. I can imagine the reason they don’t have much time nowadays is because how big the franchise has gotten like for TCG, anime and Merch but there are things they can do. I.e. spin-off games by outside companies like the old days or announce new Pokémon for merch and such before game announcements. If I had to suggest on the spot.

Im happy too hear that they're gonna spend more time doing the new games!! As a fan, I think it's good to see them give more effort to their games!! I hope theyre gonna spend more time in polishing the games and making everything right on them!

I feel like the internet opinion on Gamefreak is a love-hate relationship. The sad part is we all want the games to be better, but Gamefreaks practices are so mind bogglingly confusing that it's hard to do anything but deny them any sort of benefit of the doubt; it feels like parody when they say they're "taking it seriously", its THAT bad.

Gosh I hope this is true because having a 5-6 year cycle would be so awesome! And Pokemon Fans dream come true! We might actually get to see the Pokemon dream game of ours. Hoping we still get Voice Acting to because in Persona 5 it makes the characters more alive.

People gotta understand that Gamefreak isn't the problem. It's the Pokemon company's fault. They are the ones forcing their tight schedule. They are the reason we're getting half assed games

One thing that people forgot is Game Freak managed to release 2 big games like Legends and SV as both were developed during the pandemic. BDSP i assume is in bad shape most likely because of ILCA being a novice and was severely affected by the pandemic as well. Even ILCA managed to do One Piece Odyssey after BDSP, so they do have potential. Hope ILCA can prove themselves in the next game.

Gamefreak wants to improve the quality of their games while sticking to their release schedule. It's not going to be possible unless they hire more people, take their time, or outsourcing (which I don't want). Bdsp was a pathetic excuse of a remake. I'm holding off on pokemon games going forward until I see actual change

OH GOD I HOPE THIS IS TRUE!! WE NEED POKEMON TO GET BETTER AGAIN!!!

My worry is this will become a situation like CoD (each game rotates between treyarch, sledgehammer and IW) where each game has a 3 year “dev time” but still ends up being lacklustre.

I'm just excited for the future, it's looking bright and if they can bring the quality up a bit we'll be golden :). We'll see in a month what's next for us lol.

Would be nice to see a return of mystery dungeon to fill up slots for a holiday or summer release. Make them communicable through the mainline games with special features and etc. like they've done with already by having current save files of other Pokemon games.

I think people don't give Game Freak enough credit, they DO listen, they aren't tone death like some other companies - heck games like Scarlet and Violet are exactly what fans have been asking for, for YEARS so they very much want to make their player base as happy as possible though yeah, development time has definitely been an issue and if they are going to be addressing this that is fantastic to hear (There's also been indications they're going to be switching to Unreal Engine too which is particularly exciting!) and Game Freak are certainly not lazy, claims that they are nonsense, a lazy company doesn't make a massive open world like Scarlet and Violet, there's a lot of effort on display so I've always disagreed with the notion they are lazy, the issue has always been time more than anything, Game Freak is a very talented company, they just need to be given more time for their games to reach their full potential and I think we're very close to that full potential - they just need to make sure future games look and run a lot better and if they do and they have all the fantastic things Scarlet and Violet has? We'll be absolutely golden! Though you say the Switch era is over but I don't think it is quite yet, I'm pretty sure this year's game(s) will be on Switch whatever it turns out to be though I'm guessing that'll be the swansong for the Switch, especially with rumours that Switch 2 will launch *this year* and if Game Freak are increasing development time then we probably won't be getting a game next year and that's perfect if so since then Gen 10 can coincide with Pokemon's 30th anniversary in 2026! What better way to celebrate a huge milestone with a new generation AND most likely the first new mainline games on a new console, that's just perfect!

More time? Are they actually listening? Oh *please* be true, i want to be excited again

New pokemon snap was made by namco and from what I've read, its awesome. Outsourcing other companies to make pokemon side games is a good idea as long as the main game gets all what it deserves and becomes what it should have been. See tears of the kingdom as an example

I’m OK with outsourcing but I actually liked BDSP. ILCA is competent enough. They have experience now and they wouldn’t be as crunched for release None of the reports, even that one from Utsunomiya earlier, ever really mention more development time but “better production schedule”…. Which really leads me to believe they’re gonna pull a Call of Duty like system of juggling studios for annual releases.

What I can't fathom is why not pull a Gen 3-4 & Gen 4-5 scenario? Where its 4 years in between these 2 groups of Generations. That gives an extra year for them to develop next generation of games. I'm fine with them using ILCA again but make character models not chibi, thats all I ask.

It's evident that Gamefreak has been wanting to move away from Pokemon for a while now. If Creatures Inc. and Nintendo started outsourcing more remakes and spinoffs to other companies so that GF could take a break for a few years, we could potentially see higher quality pokemon games down the line.

To be honest, rather than focus on remaking a past game or developing gen 10, I'd rather have Game Freak give Scarlet and Violet another shot. Recreate the game from the ground up using the existing assets, fix all the issues, change the story, tweak the Terastalization mechanic, make it play more similarly to Legends Arceus, and call them *Paradox Scarlet* and *Paradox Violet* . Have them prove themselves that they can fix what's arguably the most broken entry of the series.

I think it's a good thing because by being an indie company they deserve more time to develop their games.

Gamefreak literally made main series Pokemon games on the 3DS engine. Along with short development time, small budget and not enough developers.

Personally whether new game's gonna be good or not, Pokemon's future looks interesting

People can't understand the pain I got when my boyfriend played Palworld and just told me (le me playing since Red and Blue) that's Pokémon but better. That hurt so much that I really still can't Palworld to this day but also I love it that they're successful! Pokémon hurt me personally with this... And they needed the punishment...

One day pokemon will have the production value it deserves :p

Make Pokémon Pokémon as a Japanese series it once was, especially with the anime graphics to allow plenty of fun content. Easy as that, and it is an indie thing to do that Junichi Masuda wanted.

I thought I already heard something like that before Palworld.

Im actually not opposed to outsourcing games- on the assumption that theyre, like, lower stakes games like remakes. Or even original games using pre-existing assets and ideas in a new way. For example, since the Indigo Disc has Unova fever, a new game that takes place in Unova. Using the map data we're familiar with, but with new pokemon, new gym leaders, new story, etc. Like, my bjggest problem with BDSP was thay it was just a gussied up D/P. Nothing new, even less content in some places. If theyre not allowed to make new assets, let them try playing around with pre-existing ones.

What i think that would be a great idea in my opinion is GF to expand a little bigger, so that way, they can have say Team A make the next mainline game, Team B work on continuous DLC for said current game, like a DLC beyond for current gen game. And then another dev making a remake or spin off or whatever

Well, this sounds very heartening. Not unexpected, since them enlisting ILCA to do a game on their own feels like it was at least a "test run" to give a mainline game to a new party and take pressure off of GF, but it'd be nice if the disaster that was SVs performance and the fan reception actually hammered in the nail for TPC to give Game Freak more time for the games. I'm not even that pessimistic on the next game ILCA might be working on, if they are, since personally, I see BDSP more so as a test run, and despite its few changes and glitches, the changes they did make were at least decent, and afaik, they've also worked on One Piece Odyssey since/simultaneously, and that game had a pretty positive reception from what I recall, so I feel another Pokemon-game by them could be a bit more ambitious, although I'm definitely more so expecting them to be given a title like the Lets Go-games with their pseudo-remake status, or the Gen 5 remakes when it's their time, rather than something like a new mainline game or a Legends-game, I feel they'd still want those to be handled by GF directly... although if they should ever return to 3rd versions instead of DLC (although unless they're more like BW2, I can't really see that), that'd definitely also be something ILCA/a new party could do. Anyways, if this does happen, I'm very glad it finally will. I mean, I remember thinking back around 2016 or so, around the time USUM was announced, that yearly games will lead to a decrease in quality of the games (well, specifically content was what I was thinking of back then, especially postgame content) as long as they only have 2 teams working on them, and I was still in highschool back then and had very little idea of programming or game development as a whole, so... seeing that it took 8 years for the board of decisions at The Pokemon Company to finally get that (...or the majority of the Pokemon community, for that matter...) is... yeah... disappointing, but I really hope that they actually got it now and are working towards improvement.

Im hopeful for the future of pokemon but if it ends up being a let down I wouldn’t be surprised

I'd like to see monolith soft work on a pokemon gane

Honestly i hope they do one game freak game ever 3 years plus dlc and maybe have a different company that no the one who made bd and sp to make the remakes/ legend/ let’s go games people want new stuff In remake not literally the same game but with modern mechanics also if a game isn’t worth 60 don’t make it 60 because i didn’t get lets go and gen 4 remake because I think the price wasn’t worth it the big reason why people hated bd and sp is because it’s literally Diamond and Pearl but cost 20 extra dollars it’s was no reason for them to not add platinum content and add more then just A area in the underground and legendaries you can already get in sword and Shield

Did you just forgot about SW/SH in the initial part of the video? Or was you refering to generation 9 and not pokemon games release on the switch in general?

Skipped Sword and Shield since nothing about those games was much of a selling point. Took a chance with Scarlet, and I have to say those games are a litmus test for if someone is an optimist or pessimist. It was some of the most fun I've had with these games, but it was also a glitchy broken mess. Both sides are right with this one. Gamefreak can clearly still cook, but they just don't leave it in the oven long enough. Also maybe hire on some folks who specialize in designing 3D worlds. Either that, or go back to classic style for the main games while making the Legends games 3D.

I can certainly believe that Game Freak will take more time with their future development. Switch 2 rumors have become more prevalent recently, and a Pokemon title as an announced planned released with its unveiling would sell consoles like hotcakes. Not to mention outsourcing their games is helpful to tide players over, add connectivity to their most recent releases, and add a bit of extra cash. BDSP wasn’t great, but it worked! As well, the Horizons anime feels like it was made to have its plot stalled at any time (since it kinda has atm). This would help ease timing on game releases I’m sure. I think it’s proven beyond any doubt that Game Freak (on the whole) isn’t purposefully lazy, nor is it the Switch’s fault for the game’s bugs or issues. Remember the whole “thank you Game Freak” hashtag thing that happened? I can only hope having more time to work on the games will prove useful for all involved.

If this isn't true. I'm gonna be very mad

I do hope Gamefreak does get either more employees or more time. I agree with people saying they are passionate and from what we’ve seen in the last 2 games they and want to experiment. I wouldn’t get to hyped for 2024 due to S/V just being finished, but gen 10 is something I’m really interested in.

I mean... I think the *best case* scenario is alternating release years with outsource partners like ILCA. I don't think Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl deserve the hate that they got, ILCA just played it really safe where the only things they really changed from the DS originals were repurposing the Grand Underground to have a bunch of Pokémon from the National Dex (at the cost of only having statues for secret base instead of furniture) adding a clothing shop in place of the Game Corner (which we can't get anymore due to PEGI restrictions), and changing contests (which i honestly hadn't even touched on the DS version). Although I'd personally prefer if they had some further QoL improvements like permanent TMs, but I also appreciate the change to field HMs that they added. But I would absolutely not be opposed to an ILCA remake of Heart Gold/Soul Silver in the same style, if we don't get Gold/Silver remake in Let's Go graphics.

I'll believe it when I see it. It'd be nice to see the series return to its former glory or even surpass it before I die.

As long as Gamefreak gets more time to develop, I’m fine with that. To keep us satisfied, I’m also fine with outsourcing to other companies to do the remakes, in order to give GF more time to focus on the main games

Give Electabuzz a mini gun and have him go to town. Okay jokes aside I hope that Palworld pushes Pokemon to allow us to ride any of our mons. If Palworld can make it happen sure Pokemon can, right? RIGHT? 😢 Time will tell I suppose.

My son thinks that the pokemon games should be taken over to bandai namco they do make great games and the graphics were better

2:10 Did they really though? I still have yet to notice. Lol

You know how GameFreak has only 150 employees? Ever heard of Dunbar's Number? A human brain can only remember 150 individuals and maintain meaningful relationships with them. Anymore than that would've been too much for the brain to handle, would forget some existing friends, and things would go out of control. As historically, human tribes were always only 150 people. Hence why GameFreak said they wanted to keep things peaceful with 150 employees. So why would many online fans keep telling GF to hire more people?

The fact that scarlet and violet are still some of the worst games to ever launch on switch (performance wise) tells us they have 0 plans to improve. Lets keep it a buck.

i wonder if they ever make the ultimate pokemon game fans gonna do two sides thanks to palworlds they finally move their ass to work and others who say "HAHA FOR SEE IS BETTER THE ORIGINAL PRODUCT NOW PALWORLD DIE" Or something like that

I. JUST. WANT. TO. PET. MY. POKEMON.

who knew all that was needed to make their move for a better future for the game is a funny "pokemon" game with guns

If the PS4 comparison is real I'm not getting no switch 2 even if it's a handheld there is no reason for it to be so underpowered especially in 2024 when we're seeing handheld PC like the steam deck. I'm not saying it should be on par with the steam deck or above it but come on.

If the next game doesn't have a stable frame rate I'm not buying

Better not hide some micro-transaction junk like, Pokemon Sword and Shield release.

Hazzah! A man of quality

Yeah they can only go up from here, they cant exactly go down from SV 😂😂😂

I'll wait to see the results of this personality but I'll give them the benefit of doubt Jonny

I'm too sarcastic to offer any hopeful or witty comment, i'm just boosting the comment section at this point because i like you man, the fact that an asset flip from an AA dev team pushed them into panic mode after 20 years of lagging behind is baffling

Ilca made One piece Odessey

YES

I love Pokémon but I am going to be honest. LGPE and Legends Arceus are the only games to not have massive bugs and went well for the most part and had fun gameplay in my opinion

I really hope they don't outsource another game to ILCA. BdSP was trash

i wonder if palworld is reason why gamefreak is change....

Feel like this decision was also possibly put forward do to Palworld success so far so maybe with some competition the next title will be good hopefully we will just have to see

Oh really hope this is true ❤

let them stop patronizing western audience and focus on Asian regions as their inspirations. The Eurocentrism is kinda sickening

They should delay their games!

good.

Lol cause of palwourld

And it will still be shit

I'm confused this looks like a ripoff of pal world, what is this game??

This seems oddly close to Palworld's recent success. 🤔 Considering they've been ignoring people's complaints for multiple gens. Pla was a good step, but still wasn't enough. And they never even bothered to patch out the issues in SV. I'm still skeptical because the games still sell like hotcakes. SV is somehow the second best selling titles in the series! I have doubts they'll actually change anything unless they lose sales.

It's another bold face lie

Palworld has left them worrying 😂

After Palworld outstaged them, no doubt they're looking the fool and not liking it.

pokemon developer so trash compare to Zelda developer

This is false made by a vgc player who cheats and hacks his pokemon and is just salty about palworld success. Wait as they announce Gen10 on pokemon day next month coming out 2026!

Pokemon games are the worst, seeing those games makes me laugh out loud 😂😂😂

I’ll believe that when they bring back the national dex and include proper overworld textures

It's good to have more time, but having more staff is important too...

It's a common misconception that GameFreak is getting instructions by The Pokemon Company when in fact GameFreak, Creatures Inc. and Nintendo are the owners of The Pokemon Company. If GameFreak was actually interested in creating more polished and more feature complete video games, they absolutely could do it. They themselves chose not to do it because the games sell anyway. People should stop believing that TPC is some kind of centralized body of command for the video games. It's sole purpose is overseeing and managing all parts of the franchise, including the anime, the trading card game, merchandise and the video games.

good. they need more time. It'll in better and be much easier on the dev team.

They definitely need more time if they want to keep up on the yearly release of the games and for them to be high quality then they would need to outsource them. Not that its necessary for them to do that just a cashgrab but there's a lot companies can do with existing titles like remakes and different perspectives like the rom hack of Fire Red on Team Rocket all while using the base assets. The thing is there's a lot of people out there that make Pokémon games for fun so they could just ask for some of the popular creators to create a game for them you know give back to their community sort of thing. That wouldn't happen quite frankly given their history with Pokémon fan games in the past but that would be the ideal type of scenario instead of going to a different company like they did with BDSP.

YES!!!

They can bring back the national dex as well as postgame content

Bandai Namco has done a great job with the spinoffs Pokken Tournament DX and New Pokemon and even did Pokemon designs in Smash 4 and Ultimate. Why not have there new Nintendo specific studio do the next game.

So it took the release of a hit indie game that embarrassed Nintendo and GameFreak For Nintendo and GameFreak to finally say "we're going to bake our games now" It shouldn't have taken getting embarrassed to up the quality of their games on the switch .

But Robinson never said they are considering more development time. Utsunomiya said months ago that they want to keep the same pace, but "maintain" quality. It sounds more like they will be taking other measures, like a bigger core team at Game Freak, hiring more experienced staff, maybe switching to Unreal or Unity engine, these are the things they could do.

I just hope there's no graphical issues, I'm okay with performance not being the most stable

The Switch 2 is reported to have an 8" LCD screen, not OLED by the way I also think it's important to note that Nintendo has most definitely supplied their 3rd party developers (Game Freak, Square Enix, etc.) with Switch 2 hardware well before anyone was aware (as is normal in the industry). Not to say that Gen 10 development has been well underway for a couple years or so, but Game Freak has at least had decent time thus far to dabble with the hardware's capabilities. It remains to be seen if they will put the time they *should* into development, or just abuse the hardware to make it look like they did, for at least the first main line game anyway.

People love to get on Gamefreak's case but forget that their situation is alot different from a regluar development studio. Their tied to a huge media thing and have bosses above them they need to answer to. And I hate when people attack an employee that's on the lower level because they can't get to the higher level people. At that point all your doing is making a HUMAN BEING misreable for something they can't control and more often than not don't agree with too. I also still think people are way overblowing the glitches for Scarlet and Violet, I played through the game fine with no major issues. Yes the smaller things were definetly noticable but I did'nt see what people were posting online once. Now I do agree pokemon company should either relax and give Gamefreak the time to develop games, or hire more people to help get a game out yearly without any issues. However I understand that Gamefreak is doing the best they can with the time they have and AFTER being forced onto home consoles after decades of only doing handhelds. So I do not let the minor issues overshadow everything they gave us with Scarlet and Violet.

I wouldn't be opposed to ILCA getting games outsourced to them instead of Gamefreak as long as they take the experience and criticism from BDSP and move forward with it. I think discounting them right out the gate isn't the good idea because it could easily be that they need like another game or two to really hone their development skills

Thier problem is not mainly a lack of timey but lack of skill. That studio is just incompetent. They having almost nothing to show for their decades of experience.

Outsource spin offs. It's not that hard Pokepark, Mystery Dungeon, Snap, Battle Revolution, etc

Good, they already have billions of dollars in reserves, there's no need to rush development to meet the 3 year interval.

All game freak has to do is combine let's go Pikachu over world with the game play of legends Arceus would be a good start in the franchise, it is not that difficult.

Nice, now I'll get disappointed biannually instead of annually

Gamefreak will try harder now that Palworld scared them.

A remake lacking a gimmick is bound to happen not so soon

Many recent games were still good though.

No, don't give me hope. Don't you dare do that