GF社又开始折腾！正在开发超越宝可梦系列的杰作

Game Freak, the developer behind the popular Pokémon series, has recently updated its official website with a statement revealing that they are working on creating a masterpiece that will surpass the Pokémon series.

In recent years, Game Freak has released games such as Little Town Hero and Giga Wrecker, but they have not received much attention from players. Little Town Hero has an M-rated score of 64, while Giga Wrecker has an M-rated score of 75. However, Game Freak remains determined to create their own original IP. In January of this year, Masafumi Saito, the development manager of Game Freak, expressed his hope that the studio would create a new original IP in the future that could rival the popularity of Pokémon.

"I believe that creating a game from scratch and receiving positive feedback can greatly motivate creators. We are currently working with external companies, so we can start trying to develop projects of similar scale based on Pokémon. Game Freak does not want to limit these original games to small-scale projects. We hope that future original IPs will be loved by players all over the world just like Pokémon."

Although Game Freak has been developing Pokémon games for many years and has released several classic Pokémon titles, they seem to have encountered some difficulties after Nintendo entered the Switch era. This is because the requirements for game graphics have increased significantly since the transition from 3DS to Switch. Game Freak has had to face the daunting task of remaking a large number of Pokémon in 3D mode.

Therefore, on the Switch platform, Game Freak first released a beginner-friendly mode called "Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu!" which was similar to a remake. Due to various system cuts, the game received criticism from longtime Pokémon players shortly after its release. Two years later, after the launch of the highly anticipated first mainline Pokémon game on Switch, "Pokémon Sword and Shield," due to the use of a Pokédex cutoff and other issues, it sparked controversy among players. The game's graphics were also unsatisfactory. At this time, Game Freak faced criticism from fans. In 2022, they released "Pokémon Arceus," which received positive reviews and was considered a breakthrough for Game Freak with its real-time battle mode and more enjoyable exploration gameplay. However, "Pokémon Arceus" was an offshoot title and did not satisfy players in terms of content richness.

At the end of that year, Game Freak released the latest generation of mainline Pokémon games, "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet," which was the second Pokémon game released on the same generation of consoles. Unfortunately, "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" still lacked significant gameplay innovations and had performance optimization issues, leading to criticism from players after its release due to various bugs. This caused another setback for Game Freak.

Meanwhile, remakes and remasters developed by other companies have received relatively good reviews, such as "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remake" and "Pokémon Puzzle League." Even the development company responsible for "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remake" is only an animation production company called ILCA.

In fact, most players may understand if Game Freak is simply getting old and stuck in their ways due to their long history of developing Pokémon games. However, the main issue here is that Game Freak keeps trying to break away from their dependence on the Pokémon IP while also developing their own original IPs.

It is important to note that many players mistakenly believe that Game Freak is a first-party developer for Nintendo and that Pokémon is an IP licensed to Game Freak for development. In reality, Pokémon was originally created by Game Freak itself. The Quinty group led by Tajiri Satoshi founded Game Freak in 1996 and released the first Pokémon games Blue, Red, and Green, which became very popular. Since then, they have focused on developing this game series. In addition, a subsidiary company called Pokémon Co. Ltd. was established as a joint venture between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. Pokémon Co. Ltd. is responsible for licensing and selling Pokémon-related merchandise such as video games, trading card games, animations, and movies. Originally, Pokémon was created as a result of a deep partnership between Nintendo and Game Freak. However, through several corporate restructurings between 1999 and 2001, Nintendo gradually gained control of Pokémon Co. Ltd.

Therefore, some longtime Pokémon fans may feel that Nintendo took Pokémon away from Tajiri Satoshi's hands. However, some news reports have revealed that the main reason at that time was that Game Freak lacked funding when it was first established and could not support the development of large-scale projects like Pokémon. During various periods of development interruptions, Nintendo's Miyamoto Shigeru and Iwata Satoru helped Game Freak overcome various challenges.

So after understanding these facts, you can see why Game Freak keeps trying to create their own original IPs out of a sense of crisis. In fact, this is mainly due to their own sense of crisis regarding the current power of the Pokémon IP. If Game Freak continues to develop Pokémon faithfully, they can still survive for a long time. However, if Game Freak wants to become a well-known major company, breaking through Pokémon and creating new IPs is an inevitable path forward. In fact, previous failed works by Game Freak can be seen as attempts and experiences accumulated over time. In the future, they may be able to create a new well-known masterpiece.

However, for players, it is understandable that you have a sense of crisis and want to create new masterpieces. But please do your best as a developer when trying new things because Pokémon games are the foundation of Game Freak's existence as a company. Don't keep experimenting with different ideas until you ruin both your new IP and your old Pokémon IP - you might end up losing out on both opportunities."