Highlights

  • Pokemon has been a successful franchise for nearly 30 years and one executive hopes to see it continue for hundreds more, engaging both children and adults for decades to come.
  • The recent mainline entries, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, have been financially successful despite technical issues at launch, with over 23.23 million copies sold. DLC expansions have been confirmed, with the first releasing in September.
  • The Pokemon franchise will focus on introducing new Pokemon that behave more in line with their descriptions in the Pokedex. The creative staff at Game Freak, many of whom grew up playing the older Pokemon games, are praised for their ability to come up with imaginative new creatures.

Pokemon has been a part of Nintendo’s legendary gaming catalog for nearly 30 years already, and one executive hopes to see the franchise continue for hundreds more. The original Pokemon Red and Blue launched on the classic Nintendo Game Boy way back in the mid-90s and took the world by storm with their large assortment of elementally empowered creatures that players could capture, train, and trade with their friends. From there the series would spawn countless Pokemon sequels, spin-offs, and tie-in media and merchandise like the equally popular Pokemon anime series and Pokemon Trading Card Game.

Nintendo and Game Freak have continued to build on the Pokemon brand over the past 27 years, with the latest mainline entries launching late last year in the form of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Despite receiving mixed reviews due to technical issues at launch, Scarlet and Violet went on to become some of the most financially successful Pokemon installments in the history of the franchise with over 23.23 million copies sold as of this writing. At least two DLC expansions have been confirmed so far, with the first, The Teal Mask, releasing in September.

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The Pokemon franchise isn’t slowing down anytime soon either, at least not according to Takato Utsunomiya, chief operations officer at The Pokemon Company. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Utsunomiya stated that he would like to see Pokemon continue for several future generations. “Our goal is to keep Pokemon alive for hundreds of years - making sure it survives well past our lifetimes,” he said, citing the franchise’s formula of introducing new Pokemon with every game as a way to keep both children and adults engaged for decades to come.

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To this end, Utsunomiya says that future games would have Pokemon behaving more in line with how they are described in the Pokedex, something that past Pokemon titles have often struggled with. He specifically cited Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as a first step, with one example being how creatures like Bidoof are shown building dens and traveling in herds. Utsunomiya also praised the creative staff at Game Freak for their ability to come up with imaginative new creatures, adding that many of them grew up playing the older Pokemon games as children before growing up to work on the series.

Indeed, Pokemon is a franchise that spans many generations in a plethora of mediums, but Utsunomiya reiterates that the games will remain the core focus of his company in the years to come. Only time will tell if his goal of continuing the already long-running Pokemon series for hundreds of years will come to fruition, but current players can look forward to the release of Scarlet and Violet’s second DLC, The Indigo Disk, on December 14.