Pokemon is one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, as the recent Pokemon Sun and Moon games have proved. However, when it comes to consoles, the success is a little more blurred. Yes, there have been successes like the Stadium and Coliseum titles, but overall, it’s not been as successful as the handheld games. However, this may be changing with the Nintendo Switch, which is rumored to be getting Pokemon Stars, the third title in seventh generation.
Junichi Masuda of Game Freak talked on the matter to Meristation, and had some very interesting comments:
“Communication is very important for the Pokemon games. Where and how our players game is very important. For example, in Japan kids play in parks, in each other’s houses, together with their portable consoles. In Japan, portable consoles are far from dying, in fact, they are in better shape than home consoles. That’s why for us is important to keep the communication aspect, so people can join and get together to play.
No doubt Nintendo Switch is the future, but we will have to wait for it to come out to the market and study in what way can Pokemon benefit from it. When people get it, we will have to analyze how people use it and then think about how to develop future Pokemon titles and how to take advantage of the new console.”
This is interesting because it sounds like there isn’t a pure Pokemon game being made for Switch. Though Game Freak has said there will be titles for the Switch from them, they never said when they would arrive. So, if Pokemon Stars is coming, they’re trying to be very quiet about it.