Current Events > The Pokemon Company On Increasingly Angry Fans: We've 'Heard A Lot'

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https://www.ign.com/articles/pokemon-company-respond-angry-fans

With children discovering Pokmon for the very first time every year, and adult fans who have been with the franchise since the very beginning, The Pokmon Company is fighting an uphill battle to cater to everyone. And Pokmon fans don't hesitate to let the developers know when they're not pleased.
The Pokmon Company has faced a great deal of criticism throughout the last few Pokmon releases, and now the company is responding to the fan outrage. Speaking to Axios, Pokmon Company Director of Consumer Marketing, J.C. Smith, says the developers have heard fan complaints, and are forced to balance the wants and needs of fans of all ages.
"We have a group of creators and professionals working at the Pokmon Company that have been through a lot seen, heard [a lot]," Smith said. "They have thicker skin than many people do because theyve heard it."

Much of the criticism levied at the new Pokmon game releases are for not having the content that longtime fans have come to expect. If you check out the discourse on Twitter or Reddit, it doesn't take long to see what Smith is referring to.
Certain segments of the Pokmon fanbase are constantly complaining that the games aren't what they used to be, that Game Freak is lazy, and that the games are cash grabs. As the franchise continues to grow, the problem turns into just how many different generations of Pokmon, and in turn, Pokmon fans, there have been.
Smith says the developers of Pokmon work to, "make sure that all the generations are getting some attention" when it comes to picking which Pokmon are represented on modern gaming platforms. This, of course, is a reference to Sword and Shield, which received an unprecedented amount of backlash over the decision to not include some legacy Pokmon from older games.

Producer Junichi Masuda has said the Sword & Shield developers needed to trim the number for balance reasons, and because of the time it takes to create higher fidelity models for Nintendo Switch. Smith echoed these sentiments by saying it all comes down to balance.
"But there's also a vision for what the creators want to provide, and it's [a matter of] finding that delicate balance throughout," Smith said. He also said that The Pokmon Company is well aware of fan requests to push Pokmon in a new direction, which we're seeing with next January's Pokmon Legends: Arceus, a bold new vision for the series that breaks many of Pokmon's known conventions.

"We hear it. And I think the creators definitely understand that there's a desire for maybe something," Smith said. "But we try to focus on making the core accessible to everyone."
And yet, as the franchise continues to age and reaches new audiences, it becomes impossible to please every type of Pokmon fan out there. And, it seems many Pokmon fans think the series is declining over time.

Like many internet controversies, it's hard to know how much of the fanbase is outraged, and how much of it is the vocal minority. In Sword and Shield's case, the games sold well over 20 million units, and are the best-selling Pokmon since Gold and Silver way back on the Game Boy Color. And as for next week's remakes, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are already both in the top ten best-sellers on Amazon.

I get the complaints but I also get why things are the way they are for the franchise. But I don't take it anywhere near as seriously as much as a lot of people do. Like Cal of Duty Pokemon is like junk food gaming to me. I'll play a new one every few years and move on.

Pokemon overall is a weird franchise that's a victim of its own success.

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"Wwaaaaaahhhh! Waaaaaaaaaahh!" - TPC

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The fans are whiny

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I mean, I feel like 90% of the arguments that actually get thrown at them are in bad faith.

The BDSP boards have been pretty toxic for months, and its all just the same 3 talking points from people who were never going to enjoy the games to begin with who are only there to ruin it for everyone else. And the problem there is that it lets the actual reasonable criticisms get forgotten because the majority of complaints are basic BS just to whine.

I wouldn't be surprised if by now Pokemon has taken the approach of "its all BS so why bother" with how much mindless garbage is thrown at them. Especially when with the upcoming games that are coming out are basically Pokemon directly responding to what fans wanted and asked for, and are still getting nothing except toxicity.

On the other hand, this is also almost entirely because of really poor marketing for Sword and Shield. So you could say some of this is definitely on Pokemon.

The should not have made over 800-900 Pokmon. They should have focused on making fewer Pokmon, but fleshing out the ones they did make. I would vastly prefer a smaller roster of unique Pokmon all with high quality Switch models and animations versus a massive roster of Pokmon with a good chunk of those Pokmon missing and their models and especially their animations just being downright poor.

I know the internet is brutal, but they really need to allow people to choose a difficulty setting at the beginning of their games. Some people love the concept of Pokemon, but feel disapointed at the lack of challenge. That said I still feel bad about the massive hate the dev went through. You can criticize something without acting like some of the behaviors I have seen online.
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It doesn't matter because the same people complaining are going to still buy the games anyway; they're directly part of the problem.

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Like it sucks, but I think the older fans, if they don't like the direction the series has moved, should maybe consider the possibility that the franchise has passed them by

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I never, ever got the anger before. Even with Sword and Shield, I understood the cuts and was able to appreciate the games for what they were.

But BDSP have really killed the magic for me, by being straight up cheap cash grabs.

Legends looks great, though.

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NightMarishPie posted...

It doesn't matter because the same people complaining are going to still buy the games anyway; they're directly part of the problem.

I actually decided against buying it this time.

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The games have undoubtedly been made easier over time. The "they're kids games" argument doesn't hold water when the first 5 gens were also kids games but had trainers who carried more than one Pokmon. Kids aren't morons, and don't need the level of handholding modern gens have.
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lilORANG posted...

The games have undoubtedly been made easier over time. The "they're kids games" argument doesn't hold water when the first 5 gens were also kids games but had trainers who carried more than one Pokmon. Kids aren't morons, and don't need the level of handholding modern gens have.

If it'll help, the changes made to BDSP would probably make them the hardest in the series, if you count optional post-game stuff.

BroodRyu posted...

The should not have made over 800-900 Pokmon. They should have focused on making fewer Pokmon, but fleshing out the ones they did make. I would vastly prefer a smaller roster of unique Pokmon all with high quality Switch models and animations versus a massive roster of Pokmon with a good chunk of those Pokmon missing and their models and especially their animations just being downright poor.

It was fine back when the games were 2D. But now there's the expectation of more fidelity, the expectation that the games need to be the same but more and also the expectation that there's a new title every 1-2 years that it's all catching up to them.

This is a unique problem for franchises that have been around for a while that have always catered to a lot of people. Look at Halo which has similar issues. New games need to have a single player campaign that supports both online and split screen coop, arena multiplayer Big Team Battle and other features like Firefight, Forge etc. while also having features and gameplay that competes against modern games. Most new releases do not have these same level of expectations.

lilORANG posted...

The games have undoubtedly been made easier over time. The "they're kids games" argument doesn't hold water when the first 5 gens were also kids games but had trainers who carried more than one Pokmon. Kids aren't morons, and don't need the level of handholding modern gens have.

Eh it's a lot harder to keep a kids attentions in a specific game these days compared to us in the 90s. If they find it frustrating or too overwhelming they'll just move onto something else.

I do agree they should have more difficulty options and modes though.

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It's weird how fixated fans are on the shit. If it's not good, it's not good. If it's constantly disappointing you, then stop buying it. That's what most people do when they no longer like a product or service.

lilORANG posted...

The games have undoubtedly been made easier over time. The "they're kids games" argument doesn't hold water when the first 5 gens were also kids games but had trainers who carried more than one Pokmon. Kids aren't morons, and don't need the level of handholding modern gens have.

Agreed with this, though. Most of the reason why I stopped was because the core gameplay loop wasn't appealing to me anymore, the story is usually trite garbage, and the trainers are piss easy.

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I just want a damn hard mode

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There's zero craftsmanship that goes into the Pokemon mainline series and it has been this way for almost a decade.

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The problem is that most of their excuses seem to be vapid bullshit that doesnt hold up under scrutiny, and it being. the largest franchise in history means they have the means to make things better if they wanted. That they havent updated their mobile-focused studio to fit with that is their own damn fault.

I'm sorry, but all I can hear from the TPC assholes is "Please don't buy our games. Please play the far superior fangames like Pokemon Reborn, the Victory Fire series, the Dark Rising series, and Pokemon Prism."
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NightMarishPie posted...

It doesn't matter because the same people complaining are going to still buy the games anyway; they're directly part of the problem.

I can assure you, I will not.
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The franchise didn't grow with their original audience. I think at this point it just is what it is.
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A part of this comes from fans who probably spent a lot of their life thinking about what Pokemon could be, assuming a larger budget, a larger team, and "console" hardware. These are fans who won't leave, but are still unhappy.

The other part specific to this game is that models and animations for returning Pokemon are clearly reused with minimal changes. There was some speculation that the import process was more fucked up/ difficult than expected, and obviously Pokemon games can't be delayed since they are only one piece of the franchise of products that need to release on time.

I do hope they can get better fidelity in future games by cutting down Pokemon, but it is demonstrably not the case for this game. Identical polygon counts and frame for frame animations from the 3DS titles abound (which really puts into perspective the amount of work they did on those games).

Pokemon bank should also be free imo.

It is what it is.

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TheChariot posted...

I can assure you, I will not.

People said this for Sword/Shield and it was the best selling entry in the series since Gold/Silver lol

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If they really wanted to, they could very easily add a difficulty setting to appease some fans. That's literally all it would take to get me to play the games. Hire someone like Drayano to redo the battles for the new difficulty mode, and boom, instantly a game that will appeal to older fans.

But they won't, because most older fans who want that will buy it anyways.

Also bring back mega evolutions.


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Godnorgosh posted...

It's not that "the franchise has passed them by," it's that the devs have made a sequence of high-level decisions that have made the series what it is (pathetically easy, little variation between main entries, etc.). We didn't say that Metroid "passed older players by" when Other M and Federation Force came out and disappointed everyonethose games were the result of conscious choices that could have been different.

Pokemon has literally never been a tough game. They were always easy. It is rock paper scissors at the end of the day

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Godnorgosh posted...

Even though all of Nintendo's major franchises have formulas that they follow, Pokmon is among those that have seen the least variation with each entry (among the main games). They're also some of the easiest Nintendo games to complete. There's a lot more that TPC could do to mix things up and keep the series interesting, and there's a reason SMT and Persona have garnered a "Pokmon-for-adults" reputationone that doesn't reflect well on Pokmon.

Doesn't it? Persona barely sells a fraction of Pokemon. SMT even less so. I don't see why TPC would really care when they're looking at the sales figures and profit these franchises make.

I get the complaints from fans but Pokemon is ridiculously profitable for what it is. Whether that's due to long term fans, kids or both I don't really know but there's little incentive for them to actually change how things are done.

Pokemon Legends is the riskiest thing they've done for the entire franchise to be totally fair to them.

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Godnorgosh posted...

It seems to have gotten easier over time, but I mean, that's not really the point. Not every entry has to be easy just because the first games were, hence the suggestion to mix things up more with this series.

Every entry has to be easy and approachable because all of the games are designed with the mindset that this is going to be the first RPG (or even first video game) for many players.

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Yeah there's a lot you can criticize Game Freak and TPC for, but I just don't think there's any way to make Pokemon appealing to me anymore without completely changing how it plays. Legends: Arceus could be a step in the right direction, but it also may not be.

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The thing I don't get...

They keep trying to cater to nostalgia. Like, who's going to care more about Kanto? Kids who broke their teeth on Sword and Shield, or players who started since RBY.

So they do all these teases for the older audience that doesn't pay off. Like "Battle Frontier model" or whatever they had in ORAS? Newer players don't know what a 'Battle Frontier' is, so all they did was disappoint older players who remember it.

Like maybe we outgrew the series, but why the older fanbase teases then?

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Godnorgosh posted...

Pokmon benefits a ton from brand-name recognition and a very large established fanbase where SMT and Persona don't (at least not to nearly the same degree). I don't think making the games more difficult or introducing different mechanics or different gameplay loops would all of a sudden cause the games to plummet to SMT sales levels, and a little experimentation could restore some confidence among more long-term fans that TPC aren't just looking to rehash a tired formula for an easy profit.

My point was more that there's no real crossover or loss to their business that they really need to care about SMT or its fans. Pokemon is just in a different league.

There have also been 3 mainline Pokemon games between SMT VI's announcement and one more releasing right after afterwards. They're just franchises in entirely different scenarios.

Godnorgosh posted...

Isn't this where the concept of difficulty levels comes in? They could offer a handicapped mode much like the DKC ports on 3DS and Switch do.

I agree difficulty options would help but it's probably a victim of tight development schedules.

Umbreon posted...

The thing I don't get...

They keep trying to cater to nostalgia. Like, who's going to care more about Kanto? Kids who broke their teeth on Sword and Shield, or players who started since RBY.

So they do all these teases for the older audience that doesn't pay off. Like "Battle Frontier model" or whatever they had in ORAS? Newer players don't know what a 'Battle Frontier' is, so all they did was disappoint older players who remember it.

Like maybe we outgrew the series, but why the older fanbase teases then?

Probably because the original 151 are still the most popular monsters. Recognizable for merchandise and the like for parents buying stuff for their kids.

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Nemu posted...

The problem is that most of their excuses seem to be vapid bullshit that doesnt hold up under scrutiny, and it being. the largest franchise in history means they have the means to make things better if they wanted. That they havent updated their mobile-focused studio to fit with that is their own damn fault.

This is my biggest issue. Pokemom is the biggest media franchise in the world. Bugger than Star Wars, bigger than Harry Potter, bigger than the Marvel films.

There's just no excuse for not being able to put out a solid AAA game. It feels like the games are run by an accountants committee, who want to cut as much as possible to save money.

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SRR Capdown posted...

This is my biggest issue. Pokemom is the biggest media franchise in the world. Bugger than Star Wars, bigger than Harry Potter, bigger than the Marvel films.

There's just no excuse for not being able to put out a solid AAA game. It feels like the games are run by an accountants committee, who want to cut as much as possible to save money.

There's theories that the reason the Pokemon games are so far behind every other AAA franchise isn't because they don't want to, it's because GameFreak actually can't

And they seem to be realizing this, because GameFreak is starting to try and create games outside of Pokemon to get better as developers

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SRR Capdown posted...

This is my biggest issue. Pokemom is the biggest media franchise in the world. Bugger than Star Wars, bigger than Harry Potter, bigger than the Marvel films.

There's just no excuse for not being able to put out a solid AAA game. It feels like the games are run by an accountants committee, who want to cut as much as possible to save money.

Unfortunately like I said earlier it's a victim of its own success.

The entire franchise is based around new games coming out regularly. AAA games take 5+ years to make now. They would need to completely revamp their output to resemble something closer to Ubisoft or Activision by bringing in several developers to rotate games being pumped out for the same franchise which as far as I know isn't done anywhere in Japan. On top of that there's probably no real incentive for them to do this because I don't think this will actually lead to them getting many new sales anyway.

Another layer is the franchise is shared between Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company so investing something like this probably doesn't make sense for any of the companies involved.

There is no real franchise that's like Pokemon out there.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


The schedule is tied to a TV show, merchandise, trading cards along with 10-20 million sales every 1-2 years.

Of course that's a choice they're making.

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Godnorgosh posted...

They can put out TV episodes, merchandise, trading cards etc. without releasing their main games at the same rate. Those aren't all riding on their games coming out every year.

All of those things are tied to the video games so yes they are.

I'm not sure why you're doubting the Pokemon money machine after this long. They're not going to sacrifice hundreds of millions of dollars because of a vocal minority online.

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Maybe they should stop making lazy cash grabs

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Godnorgosh posted...

You're saying they can't come up with new Pokmon to put on trading cards or a storyline for a new TV episode without putting out a new video game? Don't buy it.

New Pokemon designed for the video game and go the other stuff later.

That would mess up the whole cycle they have for the series.

Godnorgosh posted...

I can see why they wouldn't make these changes now, given their current success, but I don't think their success will continue forever if they don't at some point address the concerns their veteran fans have had. And eventually the younger fans will grow up, too.

Their most controversial game so far sold just sold 21 million. Highest in 20 years.

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For the amount of money they are making, especially with additional monetisation (Pokmon Bank or whatever the current form of it is called) I think they fully deserve the criticism. They are making more money than ever but are failing to deliver a quality product. I think Legends of Arceus is a good direction to take, but if the main stream games continue following Sword and Shields model, I will continue not buying them. Even if I am just one guy and sufficient people have indicated they don't care about the issues by buying it. It's all I can do at the end of the day.

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Yeah, most fans aren't demanding a new Pokemon game every year I imagine. That's probably stockholders or some shit.

And yeah the Pokemon games wants to keep up with the Pokemon anime, at least in generational terms, but how much freaking filler is there in the anime anyway?

The whole Orange Island arc? More time to work on Gold and Silver. Johto had hella filler, including a different league unrelated to the actual Pokemon league.

Though admittedly I have no idea the time frame involved in making anime episodes or games. All I know is that the anime takes years to leave a region, they don't have to churn out annual games.

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