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

[Icy Wind]

Exactly. It was the pre-release of XY.

Do you think I didn't read the article?

Let’s just agree to disagree.

I don’t think it’s correct to say Pokemon is the “only” system seller Nintendo has for this year, and they certainly don’t need to announce it in a general Nintendo direct (which was the original point of this discussion)

 

[Poke Dragon]

What loss? @Myth's idea is actually much better marketing imo.

I personally think that the previous announcements were made way too early. It's frustrating how we only get drips of information throughout the year. We don't need 10 months to convince ourselves to buy a Pokemon game.

Not really, it isn't enough to attract the general public if it is with an isolated audience, it is much better with the way they do now because the internet audience far outnumbers a theater audience.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Not really, it isn't enough to attract the general public if it is with an isolated audience, it is much better with the way they do now because the internet audience far outnumbers a theater audience.

The movie is a blockbuster starring ryan reynolds. it's not some indie art house film. and they can always put the trailer online after the premier.

 

[Oriden]

I think it's really selling Animal Crossing short to say that it doesn't sell systems- it was the third best-selling franchise behind Mario and Pokemon on the 3DS. If we can't determine a system-seller based on those numbers, then we have no data to base it on and can only go by the non-quantifiable "I don't know anyone who would buy a system just for this game" statements and lemme tell you... I know plenty of people who would buy a console just to play Animal Crossing.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I know that, Bolt. What I meant, is that I don't think Nintendo's developers would know everything the Pokémon community wants, because they have no experience with Pokémon games, nor with the fanbase. Even if they were temporarily helping Game Freak with this game. Like, if it be an open-world game (again, I find that unlikely), they could think that because of that, it could be a "BotW" Pokémon game, when it could not.

Don't be so sure they have no experience with the fanbase. They pay a lot of attention to what people say on social media, and they probably talk about Pokemon as well being exclusive to Nintendo's platforms. They probably know the kinds of things Pokemon fans have been asking for.

Regardless, I was thinking more if they were the developers to begin with, not if they suddenly picked up development just now.

Not necessarily. Making an open-world game that regressed in other things apart from exploration (such as post-game, story, depth etc.) would not be a improvement.

Nintendo has high standards of quality. I mean look at Metroid Prime 4, they just threw the entire game out the window and started development over because they didn't think it was good enough. They probably wouldn't do that if they had to regress in those areas to make it happen.

We totally disagree here. I find the latest five-year's releases (ORAS, SM, USUM, Let's Go) to be below the series average, for sure. But I believe Game Freak had ambition regarding all of them, even if a little (ORAS, and mainly USUM). Even with USUM, there were improvements that a "no ambitious" developer would not care to do, like the graphical improvements at the beginning of the game.

A few graphical improvements in an otherwise samey experience isn't exactly ambitious. Maybe if they had improvements like that the entire game, but even then if it just looks better but plays the same it's hard to really argue that they really had particularly big plans for the game.

ORAS could be a common remake of RS, just with graphical improvements as well, as many other companies usually do with their games, but its also had a lot of new content. So yeah, as much as I find those latest releases to be below the series average (especially if we're comparing them to the DS games), I still believe there was ambition in developing them, by those reasons and many others.

In what universe is a handful of tiny islands that take all of 5 seconds to explore and a few storyline events "a lot of new content"? That's even less than what Emerald had.

Game Freak is also different from other companies, and the Pokemon games are also different from other games.

That's not really a legitimate excuse when every game and company is different to some degree. Game Freak is a business, they're supposed to be competing for gamers' money, so they should be looking at what other developers are doing and figuring out how to use that to improve Pokemon in their own way.

 

[Poke Dragon]

The movie is a blockbuster starring ryan reynolds. it's not some indie art house film. and they can always put the trailer online after the premier.

Again, not as effective, the number of people watching the movie is small compared to the number of internet users, even when the movie is acted by someone famous, it isn't guaranteed to get a lot of people watching. The Avengers are extremely well made, but in the theater that I go to, there seems to be a small number of people watching them most of the time, and this is coming from someone who lives in the city.

 

[Myth]

Not really, it isn't enough to attract the general public if it is with an isolated audience, it is much better with the way they do now because the internet audience far outnumbers a theater audience.

I'm not sure what you mean by "isolated audience", but part of the audience that goes to the theaters to watch a Pokémon movie has the potential to want to buy a Pokémon game. It's not an isolated audience, as you say. Probably all the people who would watch on the internet will be there, and many more.

And how does the internet audience surpass that of the theaters? If this movie makes the success it looks like it can do, we will not even be able to compare. The amount of people who are going to watch this movie in the theaters can be much larger than the amount of people who have watched any Direct of the history.

And as I've said here once, I'm not saying that I think they will show the trailer first in the theaters. I think that isn't going to happen, I don't think it would be possible and I don't even think it would be good. That's not what I said.

 

[Silktree]

Game Freak is a business, they're supposed to be competing for gamers' money, so they should be looking at what other developers are doing and figuring out how to use that to improve Pokemon in their own way.

Maybe they will if they start lagging behind. As it stands now, it's hard to blame them for not changing their ways with the sales and reviews they're getting. Most fans are content with annual releases and that takes its toll.

 

[Oriden]

I'm not sure what you mean by "isolated audience", but part of the audience that goes to the theaters to watch a Pokémon movie has the potential to want to buy a Pokémon game. It's not an isolated audience, as you say. Probably all the people who would watch on the internet will be there, and many more.

And how does the internet audience surpass that of the theaters? If this movie makes the success it looks like it can do, we will not even be able to compare. The amount of people who are going to watch this movie in the theaters can be much larger than the amount of people who have watched any Direct of the history.

And as I've said here once, I'm not saying that I think they will show the trailer first in the theaters. I think that isn't going to happen, I don't think it would be possible and I don't even think it would be good. That's not what I said.

We're also talking about a movie whose current predictions are reported as iffy- no one is sure how well Detective Pikachu is going to do, especially since it's going to be competing with the Avengers for attention. Banking the advertising for Gen 8 on Detective Pikachu not turning out to be a total flop would be a risky move. They would probably be better off getting their advertising started ahead of the movie so there's more separation between the two- especially since Detective Pikachu does not relate to Gen 8 in any way aside from featuring the same creatures, so it's not like it's a live-action advertisement for the game.

If they really thought that the movie was going to be a powerful selling tool for a pokemon game, they should have launched the Detective Pikachu game with it- not Gen 8. Detective Pikachu actually could have used the help.

 

[Myth]

I think it's really selling Animal Crossing short to say that it doesn't sell systems- it was the third best-selling franchise behind Mario and Pokemon on the 3DS. If we can't determine a system-seller based on those numbers, then we have no data to base it on and can only go by the non-quantifiable "I don't know anyone who would buy a system just for this game" statements and lemme tell you... I know plenty of people who would buy a console just to play Animal Crossing.

We have many of data to rely on, actually. Like, you can just compare the growth in sales of 3DS after the release of XY or Smash with the growth in sales after the release of Animal Crossing. As much as I like Animal Crossing, I don't think it's a system seller.

Don't be so sure they have no experience with the fanbase. They pay a lot of attention to what people say on social media, and they probably talk about Pokemon as well being exclusive to Nintendo's platforms. They probably know the kinds of things Pokemon fans have been asking for.

Regardless, I was thinking more if they were the developers to begin with, not if they suddenly picked up development just now.

I do not think it's that simple. Were we talking about developers? I don't think the developers of other games pay so much attention in the Pokémon community on socials media. And even if they supposedly do, it is necessary to have experience with the series and with its development to get a better view of things.

For example. An open-world game was really a must for Zelda, because it has always been a series where one of the main focuses was exploration. That could not be said about Pokémon, so an open world would not be something so good/incredible alone.

Also remembering that not everything the community asks for is necessarily good or even possible.

Nintendo has high standards of quality. I mean look at Metroid Prime 4, they just threw the entire game out the window and started development over because they didn't think it was good enough. They probably wouldn't do that if they had to regress in those areas to make it happen.

I know that. That's not what I meant (that Nintendo hasn't high standards of quality). But you need experience with the series to have a real/accurate sense of things. You need to be aware of the context of the series.

A few graphical improvements in an otherwise samey experience isn't exactly ambitious. Maybe if they had improvements like that the entire game, but even then if it just looks better but plays the same it's hard to really argue that they really had particularly big plans for the game.

I think we'd better just keep disagreeing here.

But just so you know (briefly), I know this was not a big deal, but I was taking into account the whole context involved (as was said in interviews, it was the newbie team that was taking care of the game, while the veterans were focused on larger projects (on the Switch). Game Freak is a small company compared to others, and still has taken account of annual releases, among other reasons.) I think that a "no ambitious" company in this context would not even care to do that.

In what universe is a handful of tiny islands that take all of 5 seconds to explore and a few storyline events "a lot of new content"? That's even less than what Emerald had.

Do you think ORAS only had this new content? What about the all others new features, mechanics and everything else?

That's not really a legitimate excuse when every game and company is different to some degree. Game Freak is a business, they're supposed to be competing for gamers' money, so they should be looking at what other developers are doing and figuring out how to use that to improve Pokemon in their own way.

I partially agree with that. Like, Game Freak has enough money to have grown much more than they did. But what I meant by "Pokemon games are different from other games", was about how they actually require things that other games like Zelda or Mario don't. You don't have the same arduous process to make a monster of Mario or Zelda like you has in Pokémon. You don't need to have a department of your company just to take care of balancing the game with Mario and Zelda, as Pokémon need. And many others things. You're right, every game and company is different to some degree. Some of them are extremely different.

 

[RileyXY1]

I don't think that they would announce the games with the Detective Pikachu movie.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

They can and should use the Detective Pikachu movie for promotion, I'm not arguing against that. Maybe integrate even a few trailers like some of you are saying.

But... staggering the announcement of the games for that bit of promotion? I don’t think that'll happen. Making the announcement later will lose them some marketing time, while the same effect could be achieved by announcing the games before and then dropping a trailer with Detective Pikachu and this time without marketing loss.

 

[Icy Wind]

We have many of data to rely on, actually. Like, you can just compare the growth in sales of 3DS after the release of XY or Smash with the growth in sales after the release of Animal Crossing. As much as I like Animal Crossing, I don't think it's a system seller.

You don’t have to sell systems as much as Pokemon or Smash to be considered a “system seller”. Animal Crossing is a system seller in its own right, just not as much as Pokemon or Smash.

 

[Myth]

We're also talking about a movie whose current predictions are reported as iffy- no one is sure how well Detective Pikachu is going to do, especially since it's going to be competing with the Avengers for attention. Banking the advertising for Gen 8 on Detective Pikachu not turning out to be a total flop would be a risky move. They would probably be better off getting their advertising started ahead of the movie so there's more separation between the two- especially since Detective Pikachu does not relate to Gen 8 in any way aside from featuring the same creatures, so it's not like it's a live-action advertisement for the game.

If they really thought that the movie was going to be a powerful selling tool for a pokemon game, they should have launched the Detective Pikachu game with it- not Gen 8. Detective Pikachu actually could have used the help.

I think by the first impressions of the audience they think it will be a success (as I've told you a couple of pages ago, it ranked high on twitter worldwide trends - I just don't remember if it reached the first place), and the trailer even surpassed the first trailer of Toy Story 4 - released the same day - in views. But I agree that this doesn't guarantee that the movie will be a big success yet. They are certainly monitoring this better than we are.

About the later, the decision to make the live action based on the game was made after its development and release, so that could not have happened.

They can and should use the Detective Pikachu movie for promotion, I'm not arguing against that. Maybe integrate even a few trailers like some of you are saying.

But... staggering the announcement of the games for that bit of promotion? I don’t think that'll happen. Making the announcement later will lose them some marketing time, while the same effect could be achieved by announcing the games before and then dropping a trailer with Detective Pikachu and this time without marketing loss.

They would not achieve the same effect tho. It's best to everyone start the hype together, for the reasons I've mentioned on the previous page.

You don’t have to sell systems as much as Pokemon or Smash to be considered a “system seller”. Animal Crossing is a system seller in its own right, just not as much as Pokemon or Smash.

That way, virtually any game could be considered as a system seller.

 

[Icy Wind]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xlva-tCOM&feature=youtu.be


New trailer for Yokai watch 4

Gen 8 really needs to look at least as good as this. Anything less would be disappointing.

 

[Myth]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xlva-tCOM&feature=youtu.be


New trailer for Yokai watch 4

Gen 8 really needs to look at least as good as this. Anything less would be disappointing.

I hope for something even better, honestly.

 

[Oriden]

We have many of data to rely on, actually. Like, you can just compare the growth in sales of 3DS after the release of XY or Smash with the growth in sales after the release of Animal Crossing. As much as I like Animal Crossing, I don't think it's a system seller.

Comparing Animal Crossing to Nintendo systems' two biggest giants is like saying that Detective Pikachu definitely won't be a blockbuster because it won't compare to the Avengers.

I think by the first impressions of the audience they think it will be a success (as I've told you a couple of pages ago, it ranked high on twitter worldwide trends - I just don't remember if it reached the first place), and the trailer even surpassed the first trailer of Toy Story 4 - released the same day - in views. But I agree that this doesn't guarantee that the movie will be a big success yet. They are certainly monitoring this better than we are.

About the later, the decision to make the live action based on the game was made after its development and release, so that could not have happened.

We knew that bidding had started on the rights to make the film back in 2016. They didn't fully release Detective Pikachu until last year- which they could have fully afforded to push it back closer to this film's launch if they wanted the sales benefit from the film.

They would not achieve the same effect tho. It's best to everyone start the hype together, for the reasons I've mentioned on the previous page.

Or they could tease Gen 8 in theaters and everyone who didn't previously know about it would hop on the bandwagon to find a bunch more trailers for the games online to make them even more interested in them, versus scouring the internet just to find a bunch of people talking about what little they already saw.

 

[KiranTheWitch]

So Animal Crossing is due for release in Q1 of this year, IIRC. With that being a thing, AC will most likely be the focus of the Nintendo Direct next month. There may be something about Pokemon 2019 but I think we are more likely to see a Pokemon Direct shortly after. Because there's no way they will save any info drops for April or May. TBH, this is a new gen, so for me, March is too late too. I'm dead set we will get news (and big, big news) in February.

 

[Icy Wind]

So Animal Crossing is due for release in Q1 of this year, IIRC.

It’s not. There’s no release window. Just “2019”.

 

[Myth]

Comparing Animal Crossing to Nintendo systems' two biggest giants is like saying that Detective Pikachu definitely won't be a blockbuster because it won't compare to the Avengers.

I don't think so. A blockbuster is a blockbuster. Avengers is something beyond a blockbuster.

We knew that bidding had started on the rights to make the film back in 2016. They didn't fully release Detective Pikachu until last year- which they could have fully afforded to push it back closer to this film's launch if they wanted the sales benefit from the film.

I was referring to Birth of a New Duo. And as far as I know, TPC gave several options about what the movie could be, and was chosen to do about Detective Pikachu. The development of the first game began in 2013. So it wasn't premeditated.

Or they could tease Gen 8 in theaters and everyone who didn't previously know about it would hop on the bandwagon to find a bunch more trailers for the games online to make them even more interested in them, versus scouring the internet just to find a bunch of people talking about what little they already saw.

I don't think it would achieve the same effect. We will keep disagreeing on that.