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For one factor, it means a once-in-a-decade occasion.
After Nintendo’s final monetary outcomes launch, the most recent updates to Pokemon sport gross sales indicated that the mega-franchise has shipped someplace over 100 million copies on Swap, with “important” video games – outlined as something that may transfer Pokemon into the Dwelling subscription service – being greater than 95 million copies. Though the report gross sales of a set of Pokemon video games won’t ever fall because of being set by a trio of Crimson/Inexperienced/Blue, each of the Swap era starters (Sword and Defend, Scarlet and Violet) have taken second and third in franchise historical past forward of Gold and Silver gross sales. Pokemon has dealt with the transition to hybrid consoles nicely, at the very least by way of gross sales.
Technical efficiency… not a lot.
However as we transfer into the endgame of the OG Swap, what can we anticipate from the quick rising franchise as we transfer to… regardless of the Swap’s successor is?

To start out with, there is no such thing as a important Pokemon sport on the schedule now – however Pokemon Day is a short while away. About 4 days, to be actual.
2024: One (Or Two) Extra For The Highway
No matter whether or not or not the successor comes out this 12 months, it won’t launch with a Pokemon important collection sport. There may be a derivative within the launch window – we noticed that with the rescue of Pokken Match from the Wii U in 2017 – however previous precedent means that The Pokemon Firm and their improvement companions will go for the upper person base over attempting to cope with a system within the midst of console shortages. Or apathy.
Pokemon Crystal launched a month forward of the Sport Boy Advance in 2001 in Japan, and a few month and a half after the North American launch of the GBA. Pokemon Emerald launched in September of 2004 in Japan, with the DS launching in
December there. For North America, the DS preceded Emerald’s launch by about six months.
Pokemon Black and White 2 for the DS launched in Japan in June of 2012, greater than a 12 months after the 3DS’s launch. The West bought it even later, in October. (And the net providers lasted a 12 months and a half.) Lastly, Pokemon Extremely Solar and Moon had been the pre-Black Friday Nintendo video games in 2017, whereas the Swap launched in March.
So there’s virtually no probability that no matter Pokemon launch this 12 months is concentrating on the successor platform. I am positive Sport Freak bought early entry to dev kits as one in every of Nintendo’s key companions, however primarily based on Scarlet and Violet they want a lot, MUCH extra prep time.
So what ought to we anticipate this 12 months on the twenty seventh of February? There’s three prospects:
Pokemon Legends: (identify right here) – I do not wish to say that Sport Freak would attempt to crank out an Arceus follow-up whereas additionally attempting to comprise the Scarlet and Violet tire hearth, however wouldn’t it shock anybody? A sport in Unova – the Black and White area – is what I am hoping for, and it is strictly for Pokedex causes: there are 9 non-legendary or legendary Pokemon which have by no means appeared in a Swap Pokemon sport. Eight of them debuted in Black and White*, and it’s totally simple to see why a sport set in a historic model of Pokemon Northeastern United States would get the ninth**.
A straight remake of Black and White. This looks like the least seemingly proposition, provided that remakes have routinely skipped generations after 2009 or so. The query turns into then how will we cope with the existence of Black and White 2? Is it DLC in a later remake, or its personal sport set? If it is the latter, they usually wish to preserve the options from BW2 that carried over story parts from the primary sport, it is in all probability a neater promote if there’s a couple of years between Depraved Black/Blinding White 1 and a couple of than popping out a 12 months aside.
A brand new Let’s Go sport, in all probability set within the Johto area. Pokemon Go continues to be an ongoing concern, and Pikachu/Eevee are in all probability the best-running Pokemon Swap video games, however I do not assume Togepi and Wooper have the identical cachet as Pikachu and Eevee. (With apologies to a number of present and former Nintendo World Report contributors.)
In fact, if the successor is backwards suitable with the unique Swap… hopefully the brand new system has sufficient energy to brute power making the present video games run at one thing approaching fashionable requirements.
2025: The 12 months Off
Sure, the Pokemon franchise is more likely to take a 12 months off from a boxed sport launch subsequent 12 months. The transition interval might be nicely underway, and it offers GameFreak time to guarantee that the debut sport runs as much as the requirements of the {hardware}.
So much is product of the truth that the video games should be rushed out in an effort to meet deadlines, however the pandemic has afforded alternatives for Pokemon to give attention to current video games and Pokemon for a 12 months. The Pokemon anime rebooted Ash into retirement and is specializing in a bespoke storyline that is not essentially married to a specific area. The opposite spinoff video games nonetheless have numerous room so as to add new Pokemon and trainers – or within the case of Pokemon Masters EX, new alts for current trainers.
Maybe the most important alternative for advertising and marketing current Pokemon is in Pokemon Go. A rollout of Sword and Defend-debuting Pokemon which could have been anticipated in 2020 bought stopped when builders Niantic needed to reboot the basic operation of the sport to accommodate the truth that folks wanted to “keep the blazes residence”. By the point the at present introduced occasions wrap on the finish of the month, there might be 22 Pokemon launched within the eighth era within the sport – and a 3rd of them debuted in Legends: Arceus. You recognize that the Galar STARTERS aren’t obtainable in Pokemon Go as of now? In the meantime, they did a full rollout of Scarlet and Violet Pokemon in September 2023, starting with the starters and early route Regular-type Lechonk.

I’ve to assume that someday in one of many subsequent two Pokemon Day bulletins or the pre-Worlds Pokemon Presents we are going to see an announcement of a season of Galar, in a similar way to how the “Season of Alola” was introduced in February of 2022. And possibly by the tip of 2025 I will have a superb Gholdengo in that sport.
2026: If It is Dangerous Do We Name It “Degeneration X”?
The final time Pokemon took a 12 months off was 2015. And regardless of Nintendo’s finest effort to have a Pokemon-killer for the vacations within the type of Yo-Kai Watch, the absence was positively noticeable. Throughout that point, GameFreak was centered on their very own tasks, but additionally was working to organize a serious throwback for the twentieth anniversary of Pokemon.
When you disregard the Yo-Kai Watch portion, this feels awfully acquainted. They’re engaged on… one thing… with the Non-public Division label of Take Two, that now we have one piece of idea artwork for alongside a nebulous “fiscal 2025” launch window that might land it within the first a part of 2026. Which is the place Tembo the Badass Elephant dropped in 2016. And after that, the march of time means that there might be a brand new era of Pokemon for the thirtieth anniversary launched on November 20, 2026.
The questions concerning the setting, the brand new Pokemon that can take the record of recognized Pokemon species into the 1100s, the brand new raid-based gimmick… all might be answered in due time. (Hey Sport Freak, if you wish to return to North America, I do know a number of locations in Canada that might function some extent of inspiration.) However it’ll be in time for the second or third vacation of a brand new platform, as has been the case for each first important pair on a brand new system since Satoru Iwata grew to become president of Nintendo.
And with 4 years between delivery Scarlet and Violet and no matter pair might be used, we hopefully needn’t maintain a programming seance for Iwata to come back in and sort things to the purpose that they’ll gratuitously cram Kanto in there. We’re NOT taking place that highway once more.
The opposite purpose why they’d wish to maintain off on bringing out the brand new era on the following era is system price. Swap however extra highly effective has a worth ground of present Swap OLED pricing, and provided that worth drops have grow to be an indication of weak point for the reason that debut of the 3DS Ambassador Program it’s going to nonetheless in all probability be pushing $500 Canadian BEFORE taxes in 2026. The final two system debuts have coincided with new decrease factors of entry: the 2DS lower 35% off the worth of entry of the 3DS in September 2013 and the Swap Lite in September 2019 was ⅔ the worth of the common Swap. If the successor is wherever practically as profitable because the Swap, there might be a decrease price redesign to let the precise goal market – the Juniors division on the annual World Championships or youthful – have a shot at getting in.
In order for you the Swap’s successor to launch with the franchise that has bought greater than some other, worry not: you can be sick of Mario video games six months after launch. Pokemon goes to march to its personal beat, and but we’ll take a look at the gross sales charts in 2031 and assume “wow, that’s numerous Pokemon”. And that is simply the way in which The Pokemon Firm likes it.
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