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Speculation Nintendo of America says Metroid Prime 4 and "new Pokemon game" are 2018 titles

Well, didn't they say something like the Switch Pokemon wouldn't be able to come out this year, but probably the next? So it makes sense.

Right now I'm struggling to get convinced to get a Switch because Super Mario Odyssey is literally the only game that has any significant information that I'm interested in. If Nintendo comes out and reveals a good Animal Crossing sequel (no City Folk watered down port of the previous title nonsense) and shows Pokemon Switch to be coming out soon I'll be convinced.
 
Considering its from Nintendo of America instead of Japan I don't believe it at all probably them just trying to hype the Switch up, or people are misunderstanding how its worded. Honestly I rather believe what the guy who made it said rather than Nintendo of America says.
 
Considering its from Nintendo of America instead of Japan I don't believe it at all probably them just trying to hype the Switch up, or people are misunderstanding how its worded. Honestly I rather believe what the guy who made it said rather than Nintendo of America says.

The official wording from Ishihara during the Spotlight is "it may not release for more than a year". It's worded in a way that it could actually be taken that it could be released sooner, but of course that's not probable at all (that phrase could go either way. >.<). However, a release in late 2018 is quite probable based off of what he said.
 
i would say their largely being very optimistic at this point largely because they only started development early this year
 
i would say their largely being very optimistic at this point largely because they only started development early this year

Where did you hear that? I highly doubt that's the case, if that's true then even 2019 sounds optimistic for this game. A game like 8th gen would have to take at least 3 years to develop so there's no way they're meeting a 2018 release date if they only just started on it this year, nor would they even bother to say it would release in a year or more. This game would've had to have started development in 2015/2016, not this year.

Furthermore, if they just started on this now then what we're they doing in 2016 after SM? Twiddling their thumbs? I doubt USUM is taking up a lot of development time either.
 
I think it's believable that the Switch game could come out next year, but I did think it was unlikely. I don't think it'll be any earlier then what we've been getting and it'll likely come out in November if it comes out next year at all. I doubt they'd mention Pokemon too if it wasn't a possibility. It doesn't come off in any way as a guess or being optimistic. He wouldn't be cryptic about them showing trailers or hints. He wouldn't even mention it if it didn't have anything to do with next year. I find it interesting that the games may come out next year as that's a pretty quick turn around, but I won't say no to it. A brand new Pokemon game with possibly new Pokemon, it being in HD AND it being able to be played on the or handheld? Yes please!!!!
 
Where did you hear that? I highly doubt that's the case, if that's true then even 2019 sounds optimistic for this game. A game like 8th gen would have to take at least 3 years to develop so there's no way they're meeting a 2018 release date if they only just started on it this year, nor would they even bother to say it would release in a year or more. This game would've had to have started development in 2015/2016, not this year.

Furthermore, if they just started on this now then what we're they doing in 2016 after SM? Twiddling their thumbs? I doubt USUM is taking up a lot of development time either.
Masuda and Co are putting out adverts on Twitter for HD modeling so yeah, they're probably in the very early stages.
 
Where did you hear that? I highly doubt that's the case, if that's true then even 2019 sounds optimistic for this game. A game like 8th gen would have to take at least 3 years to develop so there's no way they're meeting a 2018 release date if they only just started on it this year, nor would they even bother to say it would release in a year or more. This game would've had to have started development in 2015/2016, not this year.

Furthermore, if they just started on this now then what we're they doing in 2016 after SM? Twiddling their thumbs? I doubt USUM is taking up a lot of development time either.


Job Listings for positions at game freak posted in march of this year hinted it was primarily for switch stuff (which was one of the primary drivers of the pokemon stars stuff)

not only that while some early development on the switch happened in 2014 major development of the switch did not occur until early 2015 (when they hinted about it) meaning they most likely did not get dev kits until late 2015 or early 2016 AT THE EARLIEST as the tegra X1 which is the basis of the SOC the switch uses wasn't released until until Q2 2015


not only that while it will be a "new" game a game like ultra moon and ultra sun are more often then have much shorter development spans because they are cheaper and easier to develop as they'll recycle some or most already developed assets and some cases because of that use smaller teams as well

it because of this i'm leaning towards early 2019 at the earliest
 
Job Listings for positions at game freak posted in march of this year hinted it was primarily for switch stuff (which was one of the primary drivers of the pokemon stars stuff)

not only that while some early development on the switch happened in 2014 major development of the switch did not occur until early 2015 (when they hinted about it) meaning they most likely did not get dev kits until late 2015 or early 2016 AT THE EARLIEST as the tegra X1 which is the basis of the SOC the switch uses wasn't released until until Q2 2015


not only that while it will be a "new" game a game like ultra moon and ultra sun are more often then have much shorter development spans because they are cheaper and easier to develop as they'll recycle some or most already developed assets and some cases because of that use smaller teams as well

it because of this i'm leaning towards early 2019 at the earliest

It doesn't really matter if USUM is quick to develop, what matters is when they start. Games on average take 3 years to develop, sometimes longer if it's an intensive game (for example, BotW, which is utterly massive). Having a cheap upgrade like USUM doesn't really help the fact that they have to create a new map from scratch, likely on a new engine. They did do some early work on HD models for SM, so that might may help, but probably not enough to make this a 1 or 2 year development cycle. If they're just starting on this game now, then either this game is going to be disappointingly similar to 7th gen or it's going to be a mid-to-late lifespan Switch game. Either way, Nintendo and Game Freak definitely dropped the ball on this. If they wanted to capitalize and build on the strong success of their 2017 lineup with a Switch Pokemon game they should've started working on it in 2015/2016.
 
It doesn't really matter if USUM is quick to develop, what matters is when they start. Games on average take 3 years to develop, sometimes longer if it's an intensive game (for example, BotW, which is utterly massive). Having a cheap upgrade like USUM doesn't really help the fact that they have to create a new map from scratch, likely on a new engine. They did do some early work on HD models for SM, so that might may help, but probably not enough to make this a 1 or 2 year development cycle. If they're just starting on this game now, then either this game is going to be disappointingly similar to 7th gen or it's going to be a mid-to-late lifespan Switch game. Either way, Nintendo and Game Freak definitely dropped the ball on this. If they wanted to capitalize and build on the strong success of their 2017 lineup with a Switch Pokemon game they should've started working on it in 2015/2016.

fair enough but these " 3rd games "don't require 3 years (2 years at best ) cycles the reason because they essentially recycle everything with some"improvement" and as such don't usually have a "full" development team either so they can focus more or less on doing the next pokemon generation engine/main games or prior gen remake that being said the switch hardware probably wasn't really finalized until early 2016

the only time they may need 3 years really is for new gen games because everything has to be done from scratch or a prior gen remake

it also varies largely depending on the company its 2 to five years with 3 being the standard

it should be noted though that while game freak only has 100 to 150 employees they are also developing not just pokemon but pc and and other console titles as well like Tembo the Badass Elephant

and
 
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I would take this with a grain of salt. This isn't coming from the developers, and NoA isn't always a great source to cite from. All it is is just PR talk.
 
They've added a note: Nintendo clarified later that Scibetta meant “2018 and beyond” here.

So the verdict is still out on 2018 vs. 2019. Personally, I am in favor of Game Freak taking as much time as possible with the next generation, which they could very well do if Ishihara was actually referring to a transition to the Switch for the current generation. Another return to Alola would be ridiculous, but an old region could have considerable impact on the Switch even with the graphics using an upscaled version of the SM engine. The amount of new content would have to surpass the standard for mid-generation games, of course.

I can imagine Game Freak working on three projects right now:

1. USUM: 3-6 months' worth of development even with just half the staff.
2. 2018: Kanto/Johto sequels or DP remakes, developed over two years starting from mid-2016.
3. 2020: Generation VIII, developed over three years starting from a few months ago.
 
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It's most definitely PR talk. Even if it was somewhat true, it's still not quite accurate and probably just them giving the best case scenario for release window.

Because you know, saying "Lol you better wait your hearts out, dears" probably isn't the best way to hype people for games on their flashy new console :p
 
I don't think they have a clue when the Switch game will come and are just giving us a rough estimate. Ishihara stated that it could take a year or more. If you consider that from the day of announcement the games could release late in 2018 (which Silktree mentioned elsewhere) and would be more than a year from the announce. It could be 2019, who knows. Also in the interview, despite the correction, they merely state that 2018 will center around those new games. That could mean marketing instead of an actually release.
 
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They've added a note: Nintendo clarified later that Scibetta meant “2018 and beyond” here.

So the verdict is still out on 2018 vs. 2019. Personally, I am in favor of Game Freak taking as much time as possible with the next generation, which they could very well do if Ishihara was actually referring to a transition to the Switch for the current generation. Another return to Alola would be ridiculous, but an old region could have considerable impact on the Switch even with the graphics using an upscaled version of the SM engine. The amount of new content would have to surpass the standard for mid-generation games, of course.

I can imagine Game Freak working on three projects right now:

1. USUM: 3-6 months' worth of development even with just half the staff.
2. 2018: Kanto/Johto sequels or DP remakes, developed over two years starting from mid-2016.
3. 2020: Generation VIII, developed over three years starting from a few months ago.
Tsunekazu Ishihara did said they'll be Pokemon Game on Switch a year or more, I think it's too soon for Gen VIII, because Gen VII just started with Sun/Moon, It's likely to see Gen VIII for Switch in 2019 or 2020. With the confirmation of a Pokemon game for Next Year Nintendo Of America: Metroid Prime 4 And New Pokémon Are 2018 Games I think it's likely to see either DP remake or Kanto/Johto Sequel, but I'm skeptical on Pokemon Direct, On the shelf Diamond/Pearl are missing from the shelf along with Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, and Black 2/White 2, it probably means nothing though. Anyway, I think TPC and GF usually take 2-3 year break between games, Sun/Moon did release in 2016, Ultra Sun/UltraMoon will be released in late 2017, The confirmation of a Pokemon game in 2018 (Sinnoh Remake or Kanto/Johto Sequel), and 2019 possibly a break year, so they have enough time to develop Gen VIII, so maybe we'll see Gen VIII in 2020.
 
Tsunekazu Ishihara did said they'll be Pokemon Game on Switch a year or more, I think it's too soon for Gen VIII, because Gen VII just started with Sun/Moon, It's likely to see Gen VIII for Switch in 2019 or 2020. With the confirmation of a Pokemon game for Next Year Nintendo Of America: Metroid Prime 4 And New Pokémon Are 2018 Games I think it's likely to see either DP remake or Kanto/Johto Sequel, but I'm skeptical on Pokemon Direct, On the shelf Diamond/Pearl are missing from the shelf along with Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, and Black 2/White 2, it probably means nothing though. Anyway, I think TPC and GF usually take 2-3 year break between games, Sun/Moon did release in 2016, Ultra Sun/UltraMoon will be released in late 2017, The confirmation of a Pokemon game in 2018 (Sinnoh Remake or Kanto/Johto Sequel), and 2019 possibly a break year, so they have enough time to develop Gen VIII, so maybe we'll see Gen VIII in 2020.
I doubt it. I feel like this is a Gen V situation, and the next main series games are going to be the next generation. Perhaps you're right and 2018 is too soon, and maybe they'll take a break year. I still feel the next games are going to be the next generation. But hey I'll throw you a bone, if for whatever reason the next games are a revisit of an old generation it would probably be Kanto. If they don't use a new region then they'll probably want to market to causal audiences through Kanto since that is the most notable and familiar region for people.
 
I agree. The Switch is adult-focused and attracting the Go players (Kanto/Johto fans) seems like the right way to go. Whether or not that is a better strategy than a new generation is debatable, but I just don't the latter working well next year due to time constraints.

And for the record, the Direct missed a lot of other games rather than just DPPt (Crystal, FRLG, Emerald, B2W2 and ORAS).
 
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