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

[Joker901]

Game freak doesn’t have just one team you know.

Assuming the first switch game is a remake, then the true gen 8 is probably being developed by the other team(the one that did USUM) in parallel.

With Nintendo wanting the games out this year do you really think that half of gf is not working on the switch titles to make them ready for the holiday? I'm pretty sure all the teams are working on the same title right now. Even if the games are finished right now and one of the teams started developping next games I can't see them creating a new gen on the switch in 1.5 year.
P.s. So they left the remakes to the veterans and gave the new gen to the younger team? Sure...

 

[Silktree]

The team behind USUM is relatively inexperienced and is likely working on the Kanto project now. The teams aren't fixed.

I suspect that Ohmori and a few others moved onto conceptual development of the next generation a while back. Is this enough for a late 2019 release? No, and a break is in order. Game Freak are not going to pull off an annual schedule for the Switch without a big expansion.

 

[Aizen44]

What all seem to forget and don‘t believe is that the switch games are probably longer in developement already, the counterargument here is i suppose that gamefreak didn‘t believe in switch or waited for sales to go up and so on, so the games couldn‘t have been in developement already. But actually that is not true, just think about it all games are being made on PCs and we already know Sun/Moon was downgraded to fit the 3ds, so there is really no point against it, that gamefreak didn‘t began long before developing the next game, now that the switch is selling good all they would have to „change“ would be them not downgrading the games as they did with 3ds, just adjusting and optimizing it for the switch.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

If the game releases in 2018, in my opinion it’s almost a given 2019 is a break. I don't think GameFreak can release 2 Switch games in a row without a break, since it’s a relatively small company and console development will be most probably longer.

 

[Aizen44]

If the game releases in 2018, in my opinion it’s almost a given 2019 is a break. I don't think GameFreak can release 2 Switch games in a row without a break, since it’s a relatively small company and console development will be most probably longer.

But that would only fit, if the new games are gen 8, if not, then what would the anime do till 2020?

 

[Icy Wind]

They can always outsource some of the work to an another company. I don’t think a major expansion for their studio is necessary.

 

[Joker901]

Guys the development of the games is not that easy as you may think even if they began it in 2015. "2018 or later" remember? This is the first time we don't have a clear release date, this means that the games were in full development until this year at least. I don't think they had the time to start a new project last year if they were not even sure that the games they were working on would be released this year for sure, not counting usum clearly.
If gen 8 was started, let's say, this year in January, there's no way it will be released next year in November. Even a 3ds game with a new gen took more than 2 years of development.

 

[RileyXY1]

But that would only fit, if the new games are gen 8, if not, then what would the anime do till 2020?

That's one of the reasons why I think that the Switch game is Gen 8. I don't think that the SM anime will last into 2020.

 

[Aizen44]

Guys the development of the games is not that easy as you may think even if they began it in 2015. "2018 or later" remember? This is the first time we don't have a clear release date, this means that the games were in full development until this year at least. I don't think they had the time to start a new project last year if they were not even sure that the games they were working on would be released this year for sure.
If gen 8 was started, let's say, this year in January, there's no way it will be released next year in November. Even a 3ds game with a new gen took more than 2 years of development.

Just to the point of the 3ds games, the reason why it took so long could be them trying to fit it to 3ds as they tried to max out the power of 3ds and that could have taken a lot of time. They wouldn‘t have this problem with switch.

 

[Joker901]

I think that simply s/m anime will end with the release of the new games. If it's Kanto then Ash will go back to Kanto and start a new journey.

Just to the point of the 3ds games, the reason why it took so long could be them trying to fit it to 3ds as they tried to max out the power of 3ds and that could have taken a lot of time. They wouldn‘t have this problem with switch.

It's not just that. You have to create new pokemon designs, new animations for them and for new moves, new mechanics, new region, new script, new localisation etc. 2.5-3 years are needed imo.

 

[Aizen44]

I think that simply s/m anime will end with the release of the new games. If it's Kanto then Ash will go back to Kanto and start a new journey.

It's not just that. You have to create new pokemon designs, new animations for them and for new moves, new mechanics, new script, new localisation etc. 2.5-3 years are needed imo.

Yeah but weren‘t the devkits given out pretty early and outsourcing as mentioned before is also a point they could have taken, i wouldn‘t count it out completely and if the games are playing in kanto, they surely are done already.

 

[Joker901]

Yeah but weren‘t the devkits given out pretty early and outsourcing as mentioned before is also a point they could have taken, i wouldn‘t count it out completely and if the games are playing in kanto, they surely are done already.

Then why "2018 or later" for the last 11 months if the games are surely done? I'm convinced (somehow) that the games are not 1:1 remakes, there must be something else or they wouldn't have created all this confusion about their nature.

 

[Aizen44]

Then why "2018 or later" for the last 11 months if the games are surely done?

I don‘t know problems with switch? Polishing the games more and more? Trying to put in more things before deadline? Planning DLC? There could be a lot of reasons why 2018 or later, just becaused it‘s said or later doesn‘t mean they couldn‘t have began earlier, that’s why 2018 is also still in there.

 

[Silktree]

We've had the "anime till 2020?" discussion a few times by now, but this thread is moving too fast even with little news. Here is what Ash could do in 2019-2020:

New gym leaders (including Janine and whoever replaces Blue), rematches like with Misty (Erika and Sabrina come to mind due to the pity badges), a final Giovanni confrontation, a new plot and another attempt at winning the Indigo League. There is no rule that says that Ash can't re-enter a league he lost.

There are also lots of Pokemon (from before Kalos) that kids haven't seen in the anime yet, to say nothing of whatever new critters/forms could be introduced in the games.

They can always outsource some of the work to an another company.

Even then, I still don't see them managing annual releases without a single break; they had a break in 2015 after relatively simple games. Also, at least as of last year Masuda was against an expansion since "it would cause an overflow of ideas". I don't see why he would view outsourcing more favorably.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Honestly, the development could be a case where the veterans started working on the Switch game then the new members joined in to help finish it. That's not rare or even uncommon during game development that they enlist help from someone else to develop the game.

 

[multiingbe]

I was pleasantly surprised when looking back at the release dates of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask to see that they were

late 1998
and early 2000

Maybe Pokemon this time around will provide the support of two entries to the series within a shorter span of time. I would think it could be late 2020, (or even March 2021 for the fifth anniverary of Switch?) One would thnk that could be the next generation game, after a few years of expanding the (possibly Kanto centered) reboot game.

 

[dCraw]

I didn't say it was impossible, but it would mean that both Prof. Oak and his son/daughter were less than 18 (depending on Daisy's age) on average when they became parents. It's just a little surprising.

How does that math work? Oak is 50 in red blue. Red is 10 we can assume so is Blue. That means oak and blues Mother could have been 20 when they become a parent. Or am i missing something?

 

[Silktree]

He is 47 in RGBY since he is 50 in GSC. Red was stated to be 11 in the Japanese manual book, and for some reason that changed to 10 in the localization. So Oak is 36 years older than Blue (50-14=36), making the average parenting age 18. But really, we should be looking at Daisy instead, and I assume she is at least 15 years old originally, reducing the average age above to 16.

 

[dCraw]

He is 47 in RGBY since he is 50 in GSC. Red was stated to be 11 in the Japanese manual book, and for some reason that changed to 10 in the localization. So Oak is 36 years older than Blue (50-14=36), making the average parenting age 18. But really, we should be looking at Daisy instead, and I assume she is at least 15 years old originally, reducing the average age above to 16.

But did they state 50 or in his fifties. Cause that would make way more sense.

Honestly i dont think the devolopers had specified ages in mind when designing the characters. Imo there's no way oak is that young in rby.

 

[dvor]

welp, only month left before we get our answer about 2018/9 release
even tho i think at this point it's pretty much 2019