Pokemon Sword & Shield players outraged over fast development time: “It shows”
Game Freak / The Pokemon CompanyThe Pokemon community became outraged after a blog post from Game Freak revealed that Pokemon Sword & Shield was made in just under two years. Fans were furious that the Gen 8 title had such a short development cycle.
A blog post by Game Freak went viral after the developer revealed details about how Sword & Shield was developed. In the letter, the studio explained that the Gen 8 RPG was largely made by a young team of employees who had run into trouble during development.
Fans became outraged however when the studio further detailed that the Galar region games were actually made in just under two years. Some angry players took to social media to vent their frustrations and are demanding that future Pokemon titles have more time to be created.
Game Freak / The Pokemon CompanyPokemon fans angry over Pokemon Sword & Shield’s development
In an excerpt from the letter, Game Freak revealed, “Staff members started to think about the concept for the new Pokemon game right after Pokemon Sun and Moon development finished in fall of 2016. Sword & Shield’s development started in September 2017.”
The blog post also explained how the Gen 8 title’s younger staff struggled with development. “Their lack of knowledge and experience sometimes showed through the project. Young staff got stuck on numerous occasions and received lots of advice from the more experienced staff members. They struggled.”
While Pokemon Sword & Shield’s development time has been known since 2019, the letter by Game Freak in December 2021 kicked off a wave of backlash from fans unaware of how quickly the RPGs were made.
Christ some of these replies.
Its hilarious how people on Twitter will spend weeks championing the idea that devs should be respected and given non-harsh work environments but the moment it results in a game they don't like suddenly thats objectively a bad decision with no merit https://t.co/c3HbRXM71c
— Kaito #Sunandmoonnation (Reading Pokemon Special) (@KizzityKaito) January 3, 2022
On social media players reacted to the blog post in frustration. “Sword & Shield has the skeleton of a fantastic game. Problem is the story sucks and the region is empty. It’s just a shame it was all poorly executed,” one user wrote.
In another comment, a fan exclaimed, “Jesus, you get an inexperienced team to make a new game in THAT time frame? I hate this no delay mentality the series has now.”
Other players called out Game Freak for the short development time such as two comments that read: “Two whole years of development! It shows,” and “In reality, it was developed less than that.”
Although this technically isn’t new information, it appears some fans weren’t aware of Pokemon Sword & Shield’s quick turnaround time in development. Details about the younger staff struggling with the project also left the community frustrated with how Gen 8 was developed.
Not everyone was angry though. Other players praised the Japanese developer for allowing the youth to step up to take on a major project. And after all, the Galar RPGs are now the second-highest-grossing games of all time in the franchise.
If nothing else, the blog post has at least sparked a debate over whether future Pokemon games should have a lengthier development time.
