Pokemon Vs Gamefreak

Got asked to make this it's own post, so I decided to clean it up and add some supporting materials.

The fundamental problem with Pokémon currently is the strained relationship between Nintendo and Game Freak. The Pokémon Company is sort of the overarching name for Pokémon in general, shared by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (who do side games).

In short, Pokémon makes a ton of money, but Pokémon games make less than you’d think. From 2013-2015 The Pokemon Company pulled in about $16 million selling games like Black and White 2 and X and Y. In 2016, when Pokemon GO came out, they made $144 million, almost 26 years worth of profit. Video game sales have made up only 19% of Pokemon's absurd total gross since 1996. Everything else goes through TPC and gets split three ways (as best we know).

Nintendo stands to make money on Pokemon in four ways: merchandise, game sales, console sales, and additional game sales via new console owners (you'll probably pick up a Nintendo game if you buy Switch mostly for Pokemon).

Game Freak stands to make money on Pokemon in two ways: merchandise, and game sales.

Nintendo mostly want Pokemon to sell merch and sell consoles, which is why there's always been a new Pokemon game to launch alongside new handhelds. The quality of the games themselves don't really matter too much to them.

Game Freak makes the games, but they’re a much smaller studio than the size of Pokémon would suggest. Nintendo and TPC can’t force Game Freak to get bigger, and don’t have any technical say in what they develop, just control over whether or not it gets to be called Pokemon. Nintendo have huge sway over Game Freak due to their sheer size and sole ownership of the trademark. If no more Pokémon games or merch were made during a legal battle, Nintendo would be fine and Game Freak would not.

This means Game Freak has huge pressure to keep making the game fit the new systems. Can't really help sell the 3DS if your game is 2D. Being pushed off the 2D ledge into 3D was a huge mistake for Game Freak, since they now had to stop all game design and throw bodies at making 721 high resolution 3D models (and that's just the Pokemon). It's clear looking through X and Y that they were bumping up against the technology more than their own incompetence. Black and White 2 had huge sprawling routes, completely new environments, and cool, complicated dungeons. X and Y put Mewtwo in a hallway. The game was clearly rushed, and while you can't say definitively, stuff like Mega Evolution has been a huge hit for merchandising, and there's been guesses that it was "suggested" down from on high. Both BW and XY didn't have too many marketable Pokemon (which is why Greninja got trotted out so often) and you could see why Nintendo might push for a guaranteed hit (Mega Charizard alone has probably made TPC $10 million).

Not to mention that every ten years Game Freak is asked to remake the games they've already made. FireRed and LeafGreen were remakes in order to have a Kanto game compatible with Gen 3's hard lock on transferring Pokemon. While you can tell that Game Freak enjoyed remaking Gold and Silver based on just how much love is put into that game, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire show what happen when a game studio already feeling pushed to the brink is asked to skip their third version of poorly-received games to remake one they've already made. Zero Battle Frontier, removed all of Emerald's improvements, more megas, etc.

It’s not said aloud, but there’s been more and more tension between GF and Nintendo. With Pokémon Go’s popularity, Nintendo can see the profitable future without being beholden to GFs artistic decisions, which is also why they’re now launching tons of Pokémon apps (Masters, Quest, Sleep). GF feels like they’re being pushed out, and are hoping they can launch another franchise that Nintendo doesn’t have a stake in. Since BW2, they’ve developed four games without Nintendo, stretching their already short staff thin. They famously ask “what non-Pokémon game would you make that would sell well?” to new applicants.

They can't try to hold Pokemon hostage by not making games anymore since Nintendo can make tons of money without them, and they can't make Pokemon games unless it's by Nintendo's decree.

Have you seen the trailer for their new game "Town"? Which game does it look like they're more excited about making?

Most of this was explained to me by someone working at TPC international when I worked with them, most of it is stuff you can look up yourself. Understanding who owns what and who stands to profit from each type of decision