Speculation Gen 9 Predictions (Development predictions, New Regions, Version names)

[Poke Dragon]

It would still sell millions of copies by virtue of the Pokemon brand alone. Sword & Shield sold extraordinarily well despite all the controversy surrounding Dexit.

The time crunch is the problem here, businesses in Japan don't have weekends and certainly don't have days off. It would be better to instead let Gen 8 stay as the current generation for at least one more year before Gen 9 comes around.

Also, there are more branches in Pokemon that can achieve the celebration of the 25th anniversary than just the games.

 

[RileyXY1]

The time crunch is the problem here, businesses in Japan don't have weekends and certainly don't have days off. It would be better to instead let Gen 8 stay as the current generation for at least one more year before Gen 9 comes around.

Also, there are more branches in Pokemon that can achieve the celebration of the 25th anniversary than just the games.

The anime wouldn't have its 25th anniversary for another year, while the TCG is smaller in comparison to the anime and games.

 

[Rantaro]

In both cases it was only like that in the West, due to the old trend that Japan got the games a full year before the rest of the world that was abandoned with BW2.

I was going with the Japanese release dates with those, if we go with western dates Gen I is the shortest.

 

[Poke Dragon]

The anime wouldn't have its 25th anniversary for another year, while the TCG is smaller in comparison to the anime and games.

Even if it's just the games, spin-offs can easily fill in the role of a celebratory game. In fact, three already existing Pokemon games can fill in this role: Pokemon GO, Pokemon Masters, and Pokemon Cafe Mix.

 

[Rantaro]

Even if it's just the games, spin-offs can easily fill in the role of a celebratory game. In fact, three already existing Pokemon games can fill in this role: Pokemon GO, Pokemon Masters, and Pokemon Cafe.

I think DP remakes are the most likely for a 25th anniversary release if they’re going to do something big. People are nostalgic for it, and a lot of people have more memories with that Gen than any other since it never ended when it was out.

 

[Poke Dragon]

I think DP remakes are the most likely for a 25th anniversary release if they’re going to do something big. People are nostalgic for it, and a lot of people have more memories with that Gen than any other since it never ended when it was out.

I also think the DP remakes are the most likely main series games this year.

 

[RileyXY1]

I also think the DP remakes are the most likely main series games this year.

Except it won't celebrate the anniversary well because it would ignore all the accomplishments of all the other gens.

 

[Rantaro]

Except it won't celebrate the anniversary well because it would ignore all the accomplishments of all the other gens.

I’m pretty sure Gen 4 is the highest selling gen outside of the Pokemania era

 

[RileyXY1]

I’m pretty sure Gen 4 is the highest selling gen outside of the Pokemania era

Nope. It's Gen 8 now.

 

[Rantaro]

Nope. It's Gen 8 now.

Huh, cool.

 

[RileyXY1]

Huh, cool.

Yeah. Sword and Shield has actually outsold all other main series games except for Red & Blue and Gold & Silver.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Except it won't celebrate the anniversary well because it would ignore all the accomplishments of all the other gens.

This again? DP remakes would celebrate the anniversary just fine. People are extremely hyped for them and are expecting them. There’s a clamor of “DP Remakes?!” before every Pokémon announcement. You’re welcome to your opinion, but that’s just not what the decision is based on.

 

[RileyXY1]

This again? DP remakes would celebrate the anniversary just fine. People are extremely hyped for them and are expecting them. There’s a clamor of “DP Remakes?!” before every Pokémon announcement. You’re welcome to your opinion, but that’s just not what the decision is based on.

It wouldn't because they should celebrate the franchise's entire history, not just one piece of it.

 

[Rantaro]

Sun and Moon hardly celebrated the franchise's entire history 5 years ago.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Sun and Moon hardly celebrated the franchise's entire history 5 years ago.

This. This is my biggest gripe with the whole "anniversary game" argument for skipping Z and moving on to 7th gen, there was nothing really "anniversary" about SM that celebrated the franchise's entire history. So clearly they don't really care much about designing the games around anniversary celebrations, it's just business as usual and they wanted 7th gen so they could cheap out and squeeze in a quick, cash grabby second generation on 3DS instead of a quality expansion of XY, the anniversary seemed to have nothing to do with their decision making as far as which game to release in 2016.

DP remakes can definitely happen, even Game Freak isn't dumb enough to rush out a new generation in 2 years and DP remakes would be the safest game they could make this year.

 

[RileyXY1]

This. This is my biggest gripe with the whole "anniversary game" argument for skipping Z and moving on to 7th gen, there was nothing really "anniversary" about SM that celebrated the franchise's entire history. So clearly they don't really care much about designing the games around anniversary celebrations, it's just business as usual and they wanted 7th gen so they could cheap out and squeeze in a quick, cash grabby second generation on 3DS instead of a quality expansion of XY, the anniversary seemed to have nothing to do with their decision making as far as which game to release in 2016.

DP remakes can definitely happen, even Game Freak isn't dumb enough to rush out a new generation in 2 years and DP remakes would be the safest game they could make this year.

They might if they want to get money and repeat Sword and Shield's massive success.

 

[Eitarou]

Sun and Moon hardly celebrated the franchise's entire history 5 years ago.

It had appearances from of a number of characters spanning almost all the Gens. And USUM had the Rainbow Rocket. It's debatedly not much, but it did celebrate the franchise...but mostly Kanto.

 

[Silktree]

a quality expansion of XY, the anniversary seemed to have nothing to do with their decision making as far as which game to release in 2016.

We would have received USUM-like games and you know it. And they wouldn't have released any Switch games in 2017, so it would have been a long wait.

 

[Morningstar]

Except it won't celebrate the anniversary well because it would ignore all the accomplishments of all the other gens.

How so? BW2 was also an anniversary title and thus set the precedent for one happening within the generation. And I highly doubt GF has the ambition of going the World Tour angle.

They might if they want to get money and repeat Sword and Shield's massive success.

In which case it would set a precedent that marks the end of both remakes and 2nd paired games in general. After all, we went form 5 games to 4 between 4 and 5. Going from 4 games to 2 would prolly not work out well for the fans.

 

[RileyXY1]

How so? BW2 was also an anniversary title and thus set the precedent for one happening within the generation. And I highly doubt GF has the ambition of going the World Tour angle.



In which case it would set a precedent that marks the end of both remakes and 2nd paired games in general. After all, we went form 5 games to 4 between 4 and 5. Going from 4 games to 2 would prolly not work out well for the fans.

BW2 wasn't, as 2012 wasn't a major anniversary year.