Whereas celebrating Pokémon Day, CEO of the Pokémon Firm Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed in an interview with the BBC that he believes that the franchise must preserve evolving, and that the corporate can’t afford to “change into complacent and waft”.
Based on Ishihara, this drive to not get complacent comes from the truth that the Pokémon Firm doesn’t do a lot apart from engaged on varied issues within the Pokémon franchise.
“Pokemon is the one factor we do on the Pokemon Firm,” stated Ishihara to the BBC. “No matter revenue we make from Pokemon will get reinvested in Pokemon.”
He additionally brings up the truth that, contemplating the historical past and legacy of the Pokémon franchise, the Pokémon Firm would go bust if the franchise wasn’t widespread anymore. Alternatively, persevering with to concentrate on its mission would enable the corporate to have a good time longer-term anniversaries for the franchise.
“If we proceed specializing in our mission, Pokemon can in all probability proceed to its fiftieth or a hundredth anniversary […] We’ll go bust when Pokemon is now not widespread.”
“If we change into complacent and waft, that’s when Pokemon will go downhill,” he continued.
Ishihara brings up varied Pokémon video games and the way they’ve helped the franchise stay contemporary. An instance he spoke about was Pokémon GO.
“That is what I feel is the most important power of Pokémon, and it’s essential for us to provide you with this sort of concept,” he stated. “In order that’s how I consider what we need to obtain subsequent.”
The interview comes on the heels of a Pokémon Presents occasion, the place the corporate made a few main bulletins. One among these was the revealing of Pokémon Champions – a brand new title for Nintendo Change, iOS and Android.
Introduced with a trailer, Pokémon Champions focuses on battles just like what followers of the Pokémon franchise would possibly anticipate. The trailer showcased a few of the gameplay alongside reside motion footage of individuals enjoying Pokémon video games throughout varied console generations.
Alongside that includes its personal roster of Pokémon, Pokémon Champions will even enable gamers to herald their very own assortment via Pokémon HOME. The sport can be centered on multiplayer, and can characteristic crossplay between its launch platforms.
Alongside the brand new title, the occasion additionally gave us a brand new trailer for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, together with a late 2025 launch window. The trailer gave us our first have a look at the sport’s three starter Pokémon: the grass-based Chikorita, the water-based Totodile, and the fire-based Tepig.
The trailer additionally gave us a have a look at the principle setting for Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Lumiose Metropolis. Gamers will get to discover the town to fairly an extent as they journey via its streets and make use of teleportation lifts to get entry to constructing rooftops.
The trailer additionally showcased the fight, which might be fairly just like what we final noticed in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. An actual-time fight system will enable gamers to utilize cautious positioning and dodging. Gamers will even must watch out about assaults that may have an effect on targets in a big space.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will even characteristic the return of Mega Evolution as a mechanic.