Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[Knightwolf09]

I just don't think Let's Go is going to meet Game Freak's sales expectation. You just can't rely on brand name alone for something to be successful, that's not how it works. Just because it's Pokemon, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to sell as much as Game Freak hopes to sell.

Yet that's worked for years now, despite complaints of recent games.

 

[Adelon]

Yet that's worked for years now, despite complaints of recent games.

I have my doubts ... something tells me this will be the biggest flop in the history of Pokemon games.

GameFreak seems to be misunderstanding what Pokemon fans in Japan and the West want.

Japan wants more cutesy stuff and humor (while the West just wants darkness and misery for whatever reason) but they don't necessarily want to be treated like toddlers any more than Western fans do and many of them will really miss being able to use their favorites from newer regions.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Yet that's worked for years now, despite complaints of recent games.

Even with complaints, games have typically sold well because they still had a lot of positives despite their flaws, and a lower price tag. LGPE is going to have to work hard for sales, promising both the highest price tag of a main series game and the least amount of new content. I think even people interested in the game aren't going to be willing to pay full price-I know I'm personally waiting for a price drop before getting a copy.

 

[nickdt]

Just because the main story is over doesn't mean you can't keep playing. That's why people often ask for postgame content.

No i know.

Having a Post-Game like in ORAS or against Rainbow Rocket is fine, since you have the feeling you make an impact. But just fighting 151 mons imo does not.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Another factor into why LGPE isn't doing well is because it has to compete with Smash Ultimate for attention. And in terms of content, Smash Ultimate easily has it better than LGPE.

 

[Adelon]

The makers are apparently banking on the massive Pokemon Go fan-base taking interest in a very expensive Switch port of a game they can play on their phone for free that has none of what makes Pokemon Go appeal to people in the first place.

 

[Oriden]

I think at this point they're relying on Meltan to sell Let's Go because nothing else they've offered up has really been compelling. XD

Gotta admit, Meltan tempts me about as much as Dusk Lycanroc did- I want it, but not enough to cave.

 

[Oriden]

View: https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/1052102849528774656


Now that's such an embarrassing answer.

"Is there postgame content?"
"Complete the pokedex."

 

[Poke Dragon]

Wow, that's really sad when you think about it, not only that but Masuda also answered that the "challenge" is trading with another person, that's a sad idea of challenge since it is very easy to get any Pokemon except Mythicals if you know what you're offering to trade as well.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Now that's such an embarrassing answer.

"Is there postgame content?"
"Complete the pokedex."

Aw, don't be silly! I mean, after seven generations, there's so many Pokemon that it really is a challenge!

...Oh wait.

 

[Oriden]

Wow, that's really sad when you think about it, not only that but Masuda also answered that the "challenge" is trading with another person, that's a sad idea of challenge since it is very easy to get any Pokemon except Mythicals if you know what you're offering to trade as well.

There's also the fact that you can import almost everything easily from GO, so all you need to complete that pokedex is to drop an extra $50 on the pokeball plus to catch Mew.

WooooOOOooooooh- challenge

 

[Oriden]

Suddenly sad because I just realized that Let's Go would've been the perfect chance for them to make Missingno into a legit pokemon- they want the game to be similar to what kids played 20 years ago? Don't leave out the famous glitch. >=/ Fools. Huge opportunity missed.

Unless they did, then I would actually be impressed by Let's Go for once.
But I doubt it.

 

[Velvet]

It's strange that we are just a month away from LGPE; and seems that not many very people seemed to enjoy the game (of course there are people that do like the game) sort of makes me wonder when we'll start hearing from the Gen 8 game or at least get the titles; especially if, for a example (NOT SAYING this WILL happen), LGPE flops badly, do you think they'll try to build up hype for Pokemon Switch earlier than planned?

 

[Oriden]

It's strange that we are just a month away from LGPE; and seems that not many very people seemed to enjoy the game (of course there are people that do like the game) sort of makes me wonder when we'll start hearing from the Gen 8 game or at least get the titles; especially if, for a example (NOT SAYING this WILL happen), LGPE flops badly, do you think they'll try to build up hype for Pokemon Switch earlier than planned?

I feel like they would just try very hard to hype LGPE via events or something, even if it's a lost cause. XD

I hope they don't try to promote Gen 8 earlier, because the last thing we need is for them to spill all the beans before release again or have another news drought like what happened with Sun and Moon.

 

[Velvet]

That is also a possibility of that happening, personally... I don't see LGPE hitting the numbers that GameFreak is going to look for, but that's merely my own cynicism coming through.

I'd much rather not hearing anything about Gen 8 until maybe Jan/February at the earliest, however, things depend on the sales of LGPE. I wouldn't mind at least having the titles of the two Switches games by then but that seems like a long shot at best.

 

[Adelon]

I actually hope these games don't flop because if they do, this could a grievous impact for the future of Pokemon.

I don't mean the Pokemon franchise will literally end overnight but the series is well past its prime and sales of main series games along with television ratings have been declining significantly for awhile now. The timing is not terribly ideal for a catastrophic failure, in fact, its the worst possible timing if the games end up severely underselling.

There are so many reasons the timing is bad. First of all, it looks as if the anime is struggling to keep up their ratings and it might soon no longer be profitable to continue which is bad news for the main series games as the anime is a glorified advertisement presenting various aspects of which ever game is currently out to potential customers. Secondly, sales of the main series games are going down each year, and even dramatic departures such as B2W2 do not reverse the trend for long. A large part of this is a lifestyle change throughout much of the developed world which makes it impractical for players to spend hours on a single very expensive game that requires its own console when they can simply download a free application on their phones and play for a few minutes as they go on the subway, wait for their food at a restaurant, etc. There are other reasons but I can't be bothered to list them right now.

On the other hand, if the games do very well, that means a lot more money for Nintendo which hopefully means they can produce much better main series games in the future.

 

[IncineROAR]

Postgames should be like the Delta Episode in ORAS - more epic than the actually game itself.

Rainbow Rocket was a meh episode in my book, so that is why I am not placing it as a standard for post-game.I do like the idea of past characters returning however.

I won't wish terrible things on the Let's Go games, but I'm not buying them.

 

[Oriden]

That is also a possibility of that happening, personally... I don't see LGPE hitting the numbers that GameFreak is going to look for, but that's merely my own cynicism coming through.

I'd much rather not hearing anything about Gen 8 until maybe Jan/February at the earliest, however, things depend on the sales of LGPE. I wouldn't mind at least having the titles of the two Switches games by then but that seems like a long shot at best.

I'm hoping for March. XD

I actually hope these games don't flop because if they do, this could a grievous impact for the future of Pokemon.

I don't mean the Pokemon franchise will literally end overnight but the series is well past its prime and sales of main series games along with television ratings have been declining significantly for awhile now. The timing is not terribly ideal for a catastrophic failure, in fact, its the worst possible timing if the games end up severely underselling.

There are so many reasons the timing is bad. First of all, it looks as if the anime is struggling to keep up their ratings and it might soon no longer be profitable to continue which is bad news for the main series games as the anime is a glorified advertisement presenting various aspects of which ever game is currently out to potential customers. Secondly, sales of the main series games are going down each year, and even dramatic departures such as B2W2 do not reverse the trend for long. A large part of this is a lifestyle change throughout much of the developed world which makes it impractical for players to spend hours on a single very expensive game that requires its own console when they can simply download a free application on their phones and play for a few minutes as they go on the subway, wait for their food at a restaurant, etc. There are other reasons but I can't be bothered to list them right now.

I don't see how LGPE would impact the franchise in any major way- it's pretty much a side series venture masquerading as a main series game. If it hits it off then great- no more dumbing down games so much when you've got a series of titles specifically for that purpose. If it doesn't hit it off then... whatever, hopefully Game Freak gets the message that people just plain don't want or need their games dumbed down.

The anime could be suffering for a number of reasons- age, repetition, the current series being stagnant, the cheapness of the new art style, or the cheapness of the English voice acting because that's been a sin since they switched ages ago. >.> Or the fact that we still have Ash as a main character and against all logic he does not age or experience this magical thing called character development except for in short spurts that will be forgotten in a matter of episodes. I swear, if he ever starts crying like it's the end of the world again because a gym leader used Gust... *sigh* The anime forgot how to take itself seriously a long time ago.

And I don't know about game sales, but Pokemon still holds the top-selling titles. I tried looking for some numbers and it actually looks like sales have been pretty steady since Gen 5. Doesn't compare with Red/Blue during the height of pokemania, but it still seems to be doing plenty fine if you consider how many slots it's holding down for the best-selling titles of the 3DS.

In any case, Pokemon has a healthy position as the second best-selling video game franchise and the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, so I think it can survive if LGPE flops- after all, LGPE is just a remake. The real staples of the franchise are the games that kick off a generation, and there's no reason why it would hurt those one bit... unless they stupidly decide to try to advertise it as being similar to LGPE, and we already know that it's not.

 

[MetroLSD]

The anime could be suffering for a number of reasons- age, repetition, the current series being stagnant, the cheapness of the new art style, or the cheapness of the English voice acting because that's been a sin since they switched ages ago. >.> Or the fact that we still have Ash as a main character and against all logic he does not age or experience this magical thing called character development except for in short spurts that will be forgotten in a matter of episodes. I swear, if he ever starts crying like it's the end of the world again because a gym leader used Gust... *sigh* The anime forgot how to take itself seriously a long time ago.

I’ve been out of the loop, are the anime’s ratings suffering?

 

[Oriden]

I’ve been out of the loop, are the anime’s ratings suffering?

Beats me, but I suspect tv show ratings are suffering in general due to the internet anyway.