Should Game Freak take a break from Pokémon?

[Kallyle]

Okay, if you haven't heard about it, Masuda's recent interview explains that the reason that they didn't add the Battle Frontier in ORAS is because they thought too many people would get bored with it, and not enough people would enjoy it. Why? Because he doesn't think that people have time for video games are are just going to go back to smartphones if the game is too hard! This isn't just about the Battle Frontier that I'm concerned about, but rather the Pokémon series as a whole!

However, I think the real reason why Masuda is doing this to the series is that the fact that less and less parents are willing to buy their kids a 3DS in favor of giving them smartphones. Basically, I don't think Masuda knows the difference between what kind of entertainment a mobile app provides vs. an RPG. The more parents buy choose smartphones over gaming consoles and handhelds for their kids, the more console companies are going to try and streamline console gaming. It's sad, but true. I think the stress of this is getting to Game Freak, and it's slowly but surely leaking into Pokémon: their flagship franchise. It's also their ONLY current franchise, which means if the pressure gets to them and ruins Pokémon, then Game Freak ends up ruining themselves.

My personal advice to them would be this:

"Until you understand that the audience of smartphone games are not--and never will be--your main audience that you've been entertaining, then maybe you should take a little break from Pokémon. Develop some apps if you think that more people will play that than your current games. Maybe try remaking Quinty/Mendel's Palace, or even expand on that horse-racing solitaire hybrid game and sell it internationally."

Of course this option doesn't mean that Game Freak will completely abandon the franchise, just that it'll be put on temporary hiatus. Besides, if that's what it takes for Game Freak to pull themselves back together, then I'd gladly wait a few years before anything regarding Pokémon comes out. If it means we get a decent balance of difficulty and post-game content once they get all the "we can't compete with mobile apps" out of their system, then maybe Game Freak taking a break from Pokémon wouldn't be such a bad idea. After all, if they keep up with what they're doing now with an international release every year, then the quality of their series will continue to diminish.

Besides, maybe having Game Freak go in another direction would turn out to be a good thing! Even if they didn't go back to Pokémon, then maybe they'll create other games that would be even better!

However, I'd like to know your thoughts on this opinion. Do you think that Game Freak should take a break from Pokémon till the get the "we're losing customers to smartphone games" out of their system, or do you think they should just stick to Pokémon and get out of that mentality immediately? And if they do take a break from the franchise, then what kind of applications/other games would you like to see Game Freak make?

Discuss!

 

[Osprey]

To leave Pokemon is a very risky move for them. While there MIGHT be a chance to have good results in the long run, it's not guaranteed, unlike the profit losses that are sure to follow from not making another Pokemon game that year. They'd go with the certain profit rather than a vague possibility. It's more likely that if they did something besides Pokemon, they'd do both at the same time. Besides, what would come of everything else connected to the franchise if it went on a hiatus? What would happen to the anime? It's just not a good idea.

What they need to do is get the jack together and stop trying to appeal to the "casuals." Even if you strip away all the stuff Masuda claimed that nobody "has time for anymore," Pokemon itself takes some time and brainpower to play well no matter what. Evolutions, moves, status effects, over 700 Pokemon, type advantages... there are so many things to memorize. Even if a 10-year-old can pull it off, it takes some dedication to get good at these games and to not be frustrated by them. The argument that these lazy casuals will deal with all of that... but not with the Facilities... is a pretty half-assed claim.

 

[lovandra]

Even if they didn't go back to Pokemon then maybe they'll create other games that would be even better!

Pokemon is a really successful franchise. Do you think the old fans won't 'run away' if their game is 'delayed' because they focus on the other game?

I think GF scared of the this^.

Why?

Pokemon is old franchises. It's survival is thanks to their 'fanatic' fans that come from lots of generations who will keep getting older. There will be a point, when most of their old fans will stop playing their games with lots of 'natural' reasons, like they have no time because of works, etc.

There is a renewal of pokemon games each generations. Each games, have new fans. The characteristics of fans from, let's see gen 1 and gen 2 won't be too different, but fans from further generations start to have differences. It maybe bacause the games itself have differences, but there is also because the people on the different generations are have general differences.

Some general example: people from generation 1: love simple adventure games, don't mind too much about not too fancy graphics as long as the content of the games is good.

^this start to become a problem from gamers that start to play from gen 3, and gen onward start to demand for better music, graphic, etc.

Not ranting, btw, just stating my points based on observations.

GF and its pokemon franchises survived thanks because they keep developing their games, a.k.a pokemon, without miss any generations. They need to considering their current fans, old fans, need to try their best to have new fans from newer generations every time they have new games out. Make sure to have a content that will please both new and old gamers, isn't easy. And I can see that so far, GF is success on doing this.

Back to your question, so should GF devs new games out of pokemon franchises *non-main games but still using pokemon as the main attraction is not included*, my opinions are no.

1. As started before, why? Why should they try to start from 0 when they already have famous franchise that they can develop to lots of variants games and attract lots of buyer just because 'It's pokemon. Yay!!'

2. They need to attract new fans.

3. They can't give more reason for old fans to 'go away' after the games became 'different', thanks to the effort to balance likeness of new and old fans, by making it 'look like' they abandon the whole franchise, even thought if it just for 'take a break'. Look what happen to Sega after they stop making Sonic for a while...
After the old fans also have lots of other issues and live *really-really subjective opinion, but GF is the only devs I feel still try to do this, and the only game that I still not give up to play till now*

4. New gamers, that maybe want to play pokemon in the futures, are type of group that also will play casual 'easy to olay but hard to master' smartphones type of games. And smartphones are developing really fasts, on the apps and all. They need to make pokemon's games, they need to keep developing the games, make it can't be forgotten, or it will start to fade. They have no time to think about other franchises, gambling their own company's future. *this is start to sound scary *

But that's my opinion.

Btw, sorry for the confusing wording... hope that you get my general ideas ^^;.

 

[Mitchman]

No, Gamefreak just needs a good old tea table upending. They have a good thing going, and yet they deliberately stint their product time and time again to allow the justification of its sale over and over. Its pure business sure, but its bad business, not something you see from Nintendo.

 

[Lt Surge]

I wish that they would wait a few years between games rather than rushing one out every year. It feels like Pokemon is becoming like Call of Duty, releasing the same game every single year.

 

[Bolt Strike]

No, Pokemon is their biggest moneymaker, they wouldn't just abandon it. Also I doubt leaving would make them realize what's going on with the casuals. What Game Freak needs is an intervention from Nintendo, they seem to have a good understand of who's buying their games and consoles.

I wish that they would wait a few years between games rather than rushing one out every year. It feels like Pokemon is becoming like Call of Duty, releasing the same game every single year.

It makes business sense really. When your franchise reaches cash cow status you want to release new games frequently to help drive profits. A lot of the biggest IPs in gaming do it.

 

[DasManiac]

No, Pokemon is their biggest moneymaker, they wouldn't just abandon it. Also I doubt leaving would make them realize what's going on with the casuals. What Game Freak needs is an intervention from Nintendo, they seem to have a good understand of who's buying their games and consoles.

And somebody else needs to be in charge. Takao Unno seems like a good choice. Despite the little development time and budget, he managed to put out a pretty decent in BW2. BW2 was also the only game in the series to acknowledge the competitive aspect of the series and actually do something about it. The PWT was a proper competitive facility.

 

[Lt Surge]

No, Pokemon is their biggest moneymaker, they wouldn't just abandon it. Also I doubt leaving would make them realize what's going on with the casuals. What Game Freak needs is an intervention from Nintendo, they seem to have a good understand of who's buying their games and consoles.

I wish that they would wait a few years between games rather than rushing one out every year. It feels like Pokemon is becoming like Call of Duty, releasing the same game every single year.

It makes business sense really. When your franchise reaches cash cow status you want to release new games frequently to help drive profits. A lot of the biggest IPs in gaming do it.

You're right, but that doesn't make it right that they are doing it. I used to really enjoy playing Call of Duty but I got sick of playing the same game every single year. I hope the day never comes where I say the same thing about Pokemon.

 

[Alpha Sapphire May]

I think that they should take a break from Pokemon, just not in the way described here. Before I get to that, here are some things I need to clear up.

I think the problem here is that some of the posters here are operating on the assumption that "casuals" = people who play on smartphones/ play games whose price is $5 or less etc. While this definition is not wrong, what happens if we change the definition to mean those who are on the fence on whether or not they want to buy the games in the first place? If this is what Masuda meant all along, then, in a way, most of his reasoning is justified, at least to me. Again, like everyone else, I'm making an assumption, but if its true, it could change the way we feel about the current topic. I'll leave this here for interpretation for others since I don't have the best judgement of what to do with this now.

Now onto my opinion. I feel that Game Freak is going a bit overboard with the main games as of late (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be excessive) with ORAS coming a year after XY. I want the residual effects ORAS, now my favorite games, to last longer than XY did, and hopefully GF feels that way too. This includes its effects on the Anime, Manga, and other media that I wish to appreciate while ORAS feels fresh. Also, ORAS seems to have a slightly larger post-game than XY, so hopefully they leave that there for us to appreciate as well.

During this period, I hope instead they turn to spinoffs (like PMD, Ranger, Conquest, or something totally new) with ORAS playing a large part in it. If I remember correctly, GF has released little to no spinoffs for XY, and I don't want that to happen to ORAS too. They could also release other non-Pokemon games, but those seem to be a bit more risky, and may not be games all of us would appreciate. There are several ways they have dealt with the gap between main games already, and I think most of us are forgetting that. So in the end, I believe that a main game shouldn't be released at least in the next year, to leave room for other great games they could theoretically make. (Unfortunately this concept isn't in the poll so I didn't vote, but just letting everyone know my stand on the issue.)

 

[Lufenium]

I don't think Game Freak have the luxury to let Pokemon go on hiatus, and I doubt Nintendo will let them either.

What I do think they should do, however, is re-assess the series and where they want it to go. It's clear they did this with X/Y, and I'm happy for many of those changes. That said, the difficulty of said games has dropped in recent releases and Masuda's statement about removing content for fear of more casual players not finding it accessible enough does cause long term fans who are used to such optional extras to feel a bit ostricized and left out. Catering to one part of the fan base and not the other is not going to solve your worry of failing to meet sales targets. It's just going to cause players to turn away and potentially not buy future releases.

Does anyone feel that Yokai Watch's considerable success in Japan may be to blame somewhat for this?

 

[Almonds]

During this period, I hope instead they turn to spinoffs (like PMD, Ranger, Conquest, or something totally new) with ORAS playing a large part in it. If I remember correctly, GF has released little to no spinoffs for XY, and I don't want that to happen to ORAS too. They could also release other non-Pokemon games, but those seem to be a bit more risky, and may not be games all of us would appreciate. There are several ways they have dealt with the gap between main games already, and I think most of us are forgetting that. So in the end, I believe that a main game shouldn't be released at least in the next year, to leave room for other great games they could theoretically make. (Unfortunately this concept isn't in the poll so I didn't vote, but just letting everyone know my stand on the issue.)

I second this. Take a break from the main series for a few years and maybe make another Ranger game or something. I want them to dedicate more time to the main series.

 

[Silktree]

They just need to take a break for a year in preparation for the next generation, which is what they've always done (it doesn't matter if the gap happens at the start of a generation or towards its end). If they're going to rush another release next year just for the sake of it, then I'll be really worried about the quality of future games. Game Freak are still a small company; they don't have separate development teams.

 

[MrGriszell]

During this period, I hope instead they turn to spinoffs (like PMD, Ranger, Conquest, or something totally new) with ORAS playing a large part in it. If I remember correctly, GF has released little to no spinoffs for XY, and I don't want that to happen to ORAS too. They could also release other non-Pokemon games, but those seem to be a bit more risky, and may not be games all of us would appreciate. There are several ways they have dealt with the gap between main games already, and I think most of us are forgetting that. So in the end, I believe that a main game shouldn't be released at least in the next year, to leave room for other great games they could theoretically make. (Unfortunately this concept isn't in the poll so I didn't vote, but just letting everyone know my stand on the issue.)

I second this. Take a break from the main series for a few years and maybe make another Ranger game or something. I want them to dedicate more time to the main series.

Game Freak doesn't make the spin off games, I thought this was common knowledge . Also a year is more than enough time to enjoy a pokemon game. If it takes a person longer than a year to get full use of their pokemon game well that's on them. In the 13 months XY has been out I've put in over 700 hours. So I do actually hope we get a pokemon game yearly. Maybe if they came out with 10 hidden pokemon each generation with a delta episode type of event to get them then maybe they could release a game every 2 or 3 years. Or maybe just maybe divide a generation into 2 parts. What I mean is look at XY only 70 something pokemon and only 3 legendaries , what if they kept half of the gen 6 pokedex outa XY to release it in the 3rd version?
Besides with tournaments and stuff like that they kind of have to release new stuff yearly I guess

 

[Kallyle]

Okay, so you've all made it very clear now that taking a break from Pokémon at all would be an overall bad idea for Game Freak. You've all made great points about this is a mature, reasonable way. However, I still think they Game Freak should release other app games on the side. Their worry about mobile games has clearly slipped into the Pokémon games we all know and love, and they need to get it out of their system somehow. Maybe having a two year gap inbetween Pokémon games where tehy release an app of sorts so they have the smartphone market covered. Then, they can worry less about those things and more about pleasing all sides of their fanbase, both casual and hardcore.

 

[Norzan]

No. The only thing necessary is for Masuda to let go the "people get bored with challenging stuff" and "people have no time for videogames" mentality and we might see an increase in quality.

 

[lovandra]

Well, they released the pokemon TGC games on IOS.

"People get bored with challenging stuff" and "people have no time for videogames" , imo is pointed to their Japanese new fanbases..

I've read something about this ^ on some psychology journals for Japan when I made my thesis last year...

Where western gamers, exp: US have both casual and hardcore gamers. Japanese and Asian gamers generally start to prefer simple simulation games with less challenges and not too time consuming, even the otaku group already generelize to their who preference of dating simulation games ^^;

Also Korean is prefer MMoRPG games.

 

[Krash]

I don't think a break is required, but I do think that the current cycle needs to be changed. XY suffered a bit because, in my opinion, they were setting their sights high on ORAS (because who doesn't like nostalgia). The whole "release a pair of games, wait a bit, release a third game" is so stagnant that fans expect it now, and get a little gripey when they don't get it.

Also, Battle Frontier. It wasn't included in the RS originals yet people expected it to be included in the remakes? Worse yet, people were downright furious when it wasn't included. What, exactly, are the fans owed by Game Freak that makes them think they can dictate how a game publisher puts a game together? Boohoo, you didn't get what you wanted for christmas. There's always next year.

What I mean by the above statement is that GF needs to shake things up more often. yes, predictability is good, but too much leads to expectations that fans seem to feel are set in stone. Let's say they didn't release a third installment to XY, but instead went head first into creating something newer and better. Resources could be pooled into that. 100 percent of the efforts could be put into making Gen 7 the absolute best. But people would still be butthurt because their precious Pokemon Z wasn't released.

Bottom line: Gamefreak doesn't need to take a break, they just need to grow a pair and get original.

 

[Kallyle]

Well, they released the pokemon TGC games on IOS.

"People get bored with challenging stuff" and "people have no time for videogames" , imo is pointed to their Japanese new fanbases..

I've read something about this ^ on some psychology journals for Japan when I made my thesis last year...

Where western gamers, exp: US have both casual and hardcore gamers. Japanese and Asian gamers generally start to prefer simple simulation games with less challenges and not too time consuming, even the otaku group already generelize to their who preference of dating simulation games ^^;

Also Korean is prefer MMoRPG games.

Oh, okay. I didn't really realize that then. However, calling the rest of the world a smaller demographic that would enjoy such challenging features makes me even more confused. Their Japanese fanbase is just one country, and they have tons of international fans. Should they really be cutting on the difficulty and post-game activity just because one part of the world doesn't have time for it? Even if they are a Japanese company, the way they've been teasing stuff and then saying "lol NOPE!" when the games actually come out is just a big middle finger to the international audience. Even those in Japan who didn't desire those features are probably not happy that they've been teasing things only to find an empty promise. It just doesn't make since, regardless if they're just focusing on the view of their home country.

 

[CrystaI]

I agree half and disagree half of the suggestion of the OP.


Firstly, I do agree that the thinking of Masuda of associating Pokemon games to smartphone game will definitely ruin the Pokemon franchise. On that very first day of his reasoning of simplifying the gameplay of XY because of wanting to compete with smartphone games that he thinks that is currently what most gamers are interested in and the reason of lowering Pokemon game sales in the recent generation, I already had the notion of he is so shortsighted and doesn't have the understanding of feelings of gamers at all. When a gaming company doesn't understand the mentality of gamers, they are then deserved to lose customers.

I would like to talk a little bit of my personal experience of being a console gamer, especially specialized in RPG games for the majority of my lifetime. As I played quite a large amount of RPG games, the exploration experience of finding out new things during the adventure, solving out mystery during the process, obviously having an adventurous story, and most importantly the battle gameplay, especially having challenging battles against some mildly difficult bosses during the play is IMO always the most important elements for RPG gamers to enjoy the game. Weaken any one of these essential elements for a successful RPG game will just make the game being unsuccessful. Pokemon XY just took the first try of weakening those essential RPG elements, it doesn't help even the game have the nicest graphic and music.

Smartphone games are mostly simple games that can developed by a small group of people within quite a short time, complete different from console games which are mostly developed by a large amount of people and for quite a long development time. Smartphone games are mostly simple games for a quick 5-minute enjoyment which one can play during like bus drive during one's traveling. And due to this game nature, RPG games are just not the most appropriate game genre for smartphones.

As for myself, I did tried out several smartphone games already, where none of them fascinate me to the extent of any console games. Even it was popular old games remakes onto smartphone platform, I just don't like to play with the touchscreen. Maybe it might just be me, but I'm sure many hardcore console gamers will never ever be fascinated by any of the simple smartphone games.

And hence, I really hope Game Freak (and also Nintendo as well) will understand that their customers are console gamers which is a group of people getting fascinated easily by a deeper gameplay experience, where they are passionate to sacrifice the entire weekend to play the game all day long. They are not smartphone gamers which are fine for simple gameplay and just want a 5-minute enjoyment to kill time during a drive. To speak the truth, I personally won't even call the smartphone gamers as "gamers".

Just that, when GF understand the mentality of their true customers, they should then stop simplifying the gameplay for the next coming new game, but oppositely deepening what I said the essentials for RPG games such as the explorations (such as making the map broader, more places to explore and to unlock during the travel), the story (please have a better villain, goofy characters are the worst kind of villain), the battle challenges (higher up the AI a little bit, and a little higher level of gym leaders), and many other sidequests and minor things that will keep players to turn their game on.

It doesn't require GF to take a break from Pokemon in order to understand these things. What I think GF really need to do is to collect and listen to gameplay opinions and afterthought of their customers from several different sources. Don't just ask the customers do they like the game or not, rather make detailed questionnaire asking what customers like and dislike specifically about the game, what other general opinions ones have, what suggestion ones may provide in order to improve gameplay experience, etc.


Just a little off-topic. My personal favourite RPG game series are 1)Final Fantasy series and 2)Tales of series. Both of them never simplify the gameplay experience on each new mothership title, unless limited by the technology limit of game console itself. And also they never rush to make a game and then provide DLC patch to debug the already on-sale game. I think GF can learn a little bit from the working attitude of Square Enix and Bandai Namco towards their respective best franchises.

 

[lovandra]

Well, they released the pokemon TGC games on IOS.

"People get bored with challenging stuff" and "people have no time for videogames" , imo is pointed to their Japanese new fanbases..

I've read something about this ^ on some psychology journals for Japan when I made my thesis last year...

Where western gamers, exp: US have both casual and hardcore gamers. Japanese and Asian gamers generally start to prefer simple simulation games with less challenges and not too time consuming, even the otaku group already generelize to their who preference of dating simulation games ^^;

Also Korean is prefer MMoRPG games.

Oh, okay. I didn't really realize that then. However, calling the rest of the world a smaller demographic that would enjoy such challenging features makes me even more confused. Their Japanese fanbase is just one country, and they have tons of international fans. Should they really be cutting on the difficulty and post-game activity just because one part of the world doesn't have time for it? Even if they are a Japanese company, the way they've been teasing stuff and then saying "lol NOPE!" when the games actually come out is just a big middle finger to the international audience. Even those in Japan who didn't desire those features are probably not happy that they've been teasing things only to find an empty promise. It just doesn't make since, regardless if they're just focusing on the view of their home country.

Like I stated before, I think GF just try to balance it all.

In pokemon XY, the games suddently become more casual with lots of fancy stuffs. I have theory that Pokemon XY is incomplete game and they have to choose which part of the games that they need to keep and which to 'maybe developed latter'

^to choose this, they maybe used the stigma from Japan, since that is their closest source.

In ORAS, they deeper the gameplay. It's not as easy as XY, that improved little bit, added more megas, added connection from ORAS to other games, includied RSE*as alternate universe* and XY*mega stones*.

They give options to both casual and hardcore gamers with Exp Share. I heard it's really hard to beat main games without Exp shared, and you can rechallange Elite 4.

They are improving.