The Pokémon franchise has endured for a very long time, and that’s largely thanks to the impressive efforts of The Pokémon Company and, of course, the anime. No matter what the franchise gets wrong, no matter how many mistakes it makes, people continue to flock to it, and that is incredibly admirable. However, that could change if The Pokémon Company continues not to address the franchise’s biggest problem, something that could end up seriously hurting the brand.
Of course, the Pokémon games’ many issues are well-documented, but this isn’t a problem with a singular gameplay mechanic, or even a particular release. Rather, there is an issue with the Pokémon brand as a whole, especially when it relates to the video games, that needs fixing before it spirals out of control. It is already getting worse, and I fear that it could end up negatively impacting future releases that we’re all excited for.
Pokémon Spin-Offs Are Bad For The Brand
They’re Diluting The Experience
Pokémon spin-offs, especially today, are a dime a dozen. I feel like I can’t go two seconds without seeing yet another puzzle-based Pokémon mobile game haphazardly ported to the Switch for an exorbitant price, or another app you don’t need that does very little. These spin-offs dominate each Pokémon Direct, taking up real estate that should go to the mainline games. It baffles me that we’ve not heard anything about the upcoming Gen 10 games, but continue to get endless trailers for Pokémon Friends, Café, Sleep, and more.
It isn’t an inherently bad thing to have spin-off games. In fact, there are plenty of amazing Pokémon spin-off titles that could actually do with new entries. However, the key difference between the likes of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Rangers, or Conquest versus Sleep, Friends, Café, and Masters is that the former are fully-fledged video games, while the latter feel like predatory cash grabs. Even the recent and beloved TCG game feels as if it falls into the latter category.
All of these spin-offs end up causing a significant problem for the brand, much in the same way that endless new seasons of the anime can be off-putting for a newcomer. If you fill your brand with so many spin-off titles, apps, dull Pokémon mobile games, and more, you end up diluting the name. Pokémon doesn’t really mean just the anime and the main games like it used to. Now it feels like a brand, an IP with which to make even more money, and that’s a problem.
Pokémon Needs Fewer Spin-Offs
They’re Getting In The Way
The solution then is to just release fewer spin-offs. That would certainly work for me, as it would not only bring the focus back onto the mainline games, but would also ensure that Pokémon is still best known for its impressive fully-fledged video games, and not for cheap spin-off titles. However, these spin-off games, specifically the kind that aren’t of the same amazing quality as Legends Arceus, make far too much money for The Pokémon Company to throw them away.
What makes this all the more frustrating is that it isn’t like the proceeds from these microtransaction-heavy mobile games and apps are going towards the mainline games. At least, it doesn’t feel like it. The disastrous release of Scarlet and Violet revealed just how limited the Switch hardware is, but also how little resources Game Freak was allocated.
Pokémon brings in so much money through all of these supplemental games, and yet the mainline ones continue to be released in bad shapes and lack basic features like voice acting. The Pokémon games feel outdated by today’s standards, and that shouldn’t be the case. If these spin-off games meant that the mainline games felt more premium and caught up with their contemporaries, then I’d have a lot less of an issue with them.
The Pokémon Company Should Focus On Mainline Games
They’re What Defines Pokémon
It feels obvious, to me then, that The Pokémon Company should focus more on the mainline games and ensure that they’re of a much higher quality. Perhaps it is because I am not as into mobile games as most – that’s almost certainly it, to be honest – but I do think it is a shame that the majority of Pokémon products these days feel low effort and of poor quality. I’m not saying that there isn’t space for mobile apps like Sleep and Masters, rather that they shouldn’t be the primary focus.
When we’re getting updates for GO, Sleep, Masters and more alongside huge trailers for the next mainline or even major spin-off title – not that we get those trailers much – it feels as if the Pokémon brand is at odds with itself. On the one hand, it wants to offer serious, exciting, and rich experiences for its fans to enjoy, and on the other, it desperately wants to make money. I get that both can exist simultaneously. I just feel like The Pokémon Company is going the wrong way about it.
Pokémon will ultimately continue to be a huge money-making machine for The Pokémon Company and the mainline games will likely still lack features its rivals have had for decades. I hope that these spin-off games don’t end up diluting the brand too much and pulling focus away from the titles that matter and can actually have an impact on players. Here’s hoping that in 10 years’ time, the likes of Sleep, Masters, GO, and more don’t dominate the Pokémon landscape completely.
- Created by
- Satoshi Taijiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
- First Film
- Pokemon: The First Movie
- Latest Film
- Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
- First TV Show
- Pokémon
- First Episode Air Date
- April 1, 1997
- Current Series
- Pokémon
