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

[Poke Dragon]

I really hope this info drought season is over soon, it almost have been 2 years since they talked about that core Pokemon Switch title.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

This sounds like you're talking from a fan perspective to me, not from a non-fan perspective. If you showed me a trailer for a game that I wasn't a fan of, and it looked maybe kind of interesting to me so I went to look for something else on it and found nothing more than I already saw- I wouldn't keep following it, I would more likely forget about it until it ever came up again.

And non-fans don't follow theories for games- fans do. That is very much a fan thing.

If I was not a fan of the games, I wouldn't even look at the game trailers even if they're already swimming around the internet. This is even if I'm a Pokemon fan. This is the power of the internet, you chose only what you see.

In contrast, if I was not a fan of the games, seeing a game trailer just before I watch the Pikachu movie would force me to look closely at the game trailer. The theatre has a captive audience.

This is a huge difference. People would not naturally come across the Nintendo direct, let a lot tune it at a particular time, waiting for the direct to drop if they are not already interested in the games.

Releasing teasers early in February would give them more marketing time indeed. Question is, is it effective marketing time? Would they have the capacity to release new information constantly every week to keep people interested? Would doing so cause them to run out of things for actual in game surprises? If they were to drop something once per month only, people are most likely to forget. And look, most of the marketing would be for non-fans, not people who would already buy the games.

 

[Icy Wind]

Releasing teasers early in February would give them more marketing time indeed. Question is, is it effective marketing time?

Considering they’ve done this for the past two gens, yes?

There is no need to wait until Detective Pikachu premieres to announce the games. Announcing the games say in February, and showing another trailer right before Detective Pikachu would have a better effect than withholding the announcement until May.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Considering they’ve done this for the past two gens, yes?

Lol how is that proof that it's been effective?

 

[Icy Wind]

Lol how is that proof that it's been effective?

Because the games sold really well?

I don’t understand your point. There is no evidence that it hasn’t been effective. If it wasn’t effective, XY and SM would have disastrous sales.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Because the games sold really well?

Effective not just in terms of the game selling well, but also effective in relation to the time spent promoting it. They could have achieved the same results if the marketing time frame was shortened while also cutting the resulting expenditure. This is of course hypothetical. Behavioural scientists would be better able to respond then myself of course. Just throwing ideas out.

 

[Oriden]

Releasing teasers early in February would give them more marketing time indeed. Question is, is it effective marketing time? Would they have the capacity to release new information constantly every week to keep people interested? Would doing so cause them to run out of things for actual in game surprises? If they were to drop something once per month only, people are most likely to forget. And look, most of the marketing would be for non-fans, not people who would already buy the games.

They don't have to release trailers every week, though. And they really shouldn't.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

They don't have to release trailers every week, though. And they really shouldn't.

Yes I agree they shouldn't but the point is, they need to be able to keep the conversation alive throughout the 10 months. That's neither easy nor cheap nor necessarily the best use of their resources.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Seeing as XY and SM marketing has been effective so far, using the movie as a secondary marketing point without making it the centre of the strategy will work to give an adequate boost.
GameFreak are also known for taking safer paths, which this one is, as opposed to making the movie the major marketing outlet while giving away valuable marketing duration.

 

[PocketMonster]

I haven't been on for a few days, I take it nothing juicy came up? Hopefully something comes about in the next couple of weeks.

 

[ParasectfulDreams]

I mean, I know we're a pretty extreme example, but we've been keeping the conversation going with nothing more than hype and ideas for... almost a year, I think? Lots of people make speculation videos based on the shortest of trailers, too. I know that's not really the wider audience, but I feel like Pokemon by itself has enough traction amongst it's fans already to stay alive for 10 months easily. I've been sucked into fandoms based on the speculation before, and if I personally wasn't a fan of Pokemon, it would be pretty easy to get sucked in just with DP trailers popping up on Youtube and speculation videos popping up in my recommended. To me, the wider audience is already being tugged at with the movie trailer, so if something related to Gen 8 is revealed, say, Feb. 19th, they would be interested enough to take a look and get into the fandom, maybe to learn anything they might want to know before the movie comes out. Just my take, though-- this is really the first pre-game season I've gotten this much into (unless we count LGPE?), so I'm not really solid on all this "people's reactions to the trailer and how it related to when they might reveal stuff" stuff.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Seeing as XY and SM marketing has been effective so far

I think by effective I meant cost-effective and not effective as in does it work but ok. But well, I personally like it when companies shake things up.

 

[RileyXY1]

I believe that the games will be revealed next month. The only ways I can see them revealed later is either the games aren't actually Gen 8 or they decided to reveal the games with Detective Pikachu. I find both of these possibilities unlikely.

 

[Poke Dragon]

The deal about marketing is that time is a valuable resource for it, they can't just let time go to waste before a game's release, that's setting up for a failed release because it wouldn't have been enough time to get the general public to be interested, fans are already a given to buy a game no matter how much marketing it receives, it's the public attention that needs to be the priority, which is why a longer marketing time for new generations is actually necessary. Remakes and follow up games don't need as much marketing because both of them are essentially games based off a previously released game. The new games can just include references about older regions and Pokemon in order to inform new players about the regions' existence.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I think by effective I meant cost-effective and not effective as in does it work but ok. But well, I personally like it when companies shake things up.

Kind reminder that SM had record breaking sales.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

The deal about marketing is that time is a valuable resource for it, they can't just let time go to waste before a game's release

Yes I agree which is why I am not proposing they scrape marketing altogether. I'm no expert on marketing but I think that the 2 months leading up to the release is a lot more important than the 10-3 months before release. Also, everyone knows about Pokemon at this point. I think what would be more helpful is to have more high impact marketing than a prolonged marketing campaign.

it's the public attention that needs to be the priority

Well, I'm pretty sure a Nintendo direct is more for the fans who are already looking to buy the games than the general public.

Kind reminder that SM had record breaking sales.

Do you know what cost-effective means?

Like @Myth had mentioned, I do believe that the release of information alongside the movie is a great way to get the gamers and the general public on the same starting page and that it could work just as well.

Ultimately, there are pros and cons either way as this is definitely a lot more nuanced than what we think.

 

[AngryBinacle]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_RC3i4q47g


Has this been confirmed to be fake yet?

Oh and by the way; why would Gamefreak move away from the usual 9-10 months marketing-plan? There's something called hype, too. The past few releases have shown this as well.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFjjjxyMZu0&feature=youtu.be


Who's up for a chance to win $500 then?

 

[AngryBinacle]

That's just a little publicity-stunt, I think. Purely based off speculation.

 

[Takumi_Tarou]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_RC3i4q47g


Has this been confirmed to be fake yet?

Oh and by the way; why would Gamefreak move away from the usual 9-10 months marketing-plan? There's something called hype, too. The past few releases have shown this as well.

The names are weird though.
Just means rabbit, goat and elephant the name is also in kanji what makes suspicious every name of pokemons in japanese version is in katakana there is no one with written in kanji or hiragana.