As I covered earlier today, there was a Pokemon Presents today that revealed some new things across multiple titles in the Poke-line. Plus, we got a big update on Pokemon Legends Z-A, which many are talking bout right now. However, with the 30th anniversary looming, many are wondering if the team behind it can “keep this up,” especially after some are talking about how “lackluster” the presentation was as a whole. Even I’m in that camp. In a special chat with the BBC, The Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara discussed the company’s future and focus, and he made it clear he feels the franchise can keep going so long as they don’t get complacent:
“If we continue focusing on our mission, Pokémon can probably continue to its 50th or 100th anniversary. But if we become complacent and go with the flow, that’s when Pokémon will go downhill.”
On the one hand, it’s nice to see the CEO say such things. However, as fans will happily note…the company has gotten a little complacent in the recent past. For example, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were incredibly successful titles…with some deep performance flaws that The Pokemon Company and Game Freak typically doesn’t allow. Fans forgave it (for the most part) because of how good the games were despite the flaws, but with Gen 10 around the corner, not to mention Z-A, they can’t allow that again.
We’ll have to wait and see if they hold firm to this belief or if they go the path of “release it quick and fix it later” like so many other companies have gone down recently.
