Image: The Pokemon Company
The Pokemon Company has acknowledged fan complaints about the declining quality of games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
The Pokemon Company is well aware of growing complaints regarding the quality of its mainline games, according to an interview with Comicbook.com. Chief operating officer Takato Utsunomiya told the site that the company is having, “more and more conversations,” about the quality of its games amid their perceived decline in quality.
Pokemon as a franchise has always moved quickly, as fans get introduced to a whole new generation of Pokemon every three years with a new mainline game. Most recently, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launched with the ninth generation of Pokemon from the Paldea region. In between these mainline entries, The Pokemon Company also releases a big new game or expansion every year - ranging from larger-scale spin-offs like Pokemon Legends: Arceus to DLC expansions like this year’s The Teal Mask for Scarlet/Violet.
However, fans have expressed concern about the fast-paced nature of these releases - as well as their expanded scope, with the mainline games now featuring large open-world environments. Pokemon Sword and Shield drew attention during their reveal trailers due to how mediocre their visuals looked compared to other Nintendo Switch games like The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet suffered much worse controversies, with numerous technical issues and bugs marring the titles’ release.
Speaking to Comicbook.com, Takato Utsunomiya acknowledged the problems surrounding recent Pokemon games, saying:
I think in general, if you look at the past, the path we've taken up until now has been this constant release, always regularly releasing products on a fairly fixed kind of a cadence, you might say [...] That's how we've operated up until now, [and] I think we're still operating in that way, but there's more and more conversations, as the development environments change, about how we can continue to do this, while making sure that we're ensuring really quality products are also being introduced.
There hasn’t been a single Pokemon game that launched for the Nintendo Switch without any sort of controversy. Even a straightforward remake like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl drew complaints for cut content and their overall art style, while Pokemon Legends: Arceus launched with framerate and performance issues. It’s clear that The Pokemon Company’s decision to release a new game every year has resulted in some cut corners, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
In the interview, Utsunomiya acknowledged the issue while saying that, “I think we're still operating in that way,” and these ongoing conversations are centered around, “how we can continue to do this,” while making better products. Reading between the lines here, The Pokemon Company is clearly happy enough with the performance of its annual releases to keep them going for the near future. But hey, at least they’re having, “more conversations,” about it, right?