When Should Fans Expect a Pokemon Gen 9 Announcement
Pokemon games garnered millions of fans over the past 25 years, and with new games and remakes approaching, fans want to know more about gen 9.
You Are Reading :When Should Fans Expect a Pokemon Gen 9 Announcement
Category : Pokemon
Pokemon games have repeatedly proven to be loved by millions of people, even after 25 years since the release of the first games outside of Japan in the form of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue. Many kids and young adults were initiated to the video game world precisely by those games, and many more from all the other titles of the franchise. Last year marked the end of the roadmap thus far for Pokemon Sword and Shield, with the addition of two DLCs: the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra.
Regardless of the controversies that Pokemon Sword and Shield sparked at launch, like the one regarding the lack of Pokemon in the regional Pokedex despite the games being massive, both titles combined managed to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. Pokemon Sword and Shield differ in scope from any other previous title from the Pokemon Company, as they are the first games to feature an open-world zone called the Wild Area, where players are able to encounter Pokemon roaming free and partake in multiplayer online raids. The same holds true for both DLCs and the new regions they take place in, making Sword and Shield the first semi-open-world Pokemon games ever.
The amount of content to go through in the 2019 games is monumental, but players are already looking at the future of the series. This year two new Pokemon games were announced -namely, Pokemon Legends: Arceus and New Pokemon Snap- and the long-lasting wish of many fans was granted when all the rumors about a remake of the fourth generation titles proved to be true. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are coming later this year, while New Pokemon Snap launched on April 30, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is likely to be shipped sometime in 2022. So, with all these things going on, what about generation nine for Pokemon games?
Pokemon Games: A History Of Releases
The release dates for most Pokemon games don’t necessarily have a pattern, but it can still be useful to look at when each game was released. These dates refer to the general global launch of each individual mainline game, rather than the Japanese one.
- Pokemon Red and Blue launched worldwide back in 1998, and they followed the Japanese release of Pokemon Red and Green of 1996
- Pokemon Yellow released in 1999
- Pokemon Gold and Silver shipped in 2000
- Pokemon Crystal arrived on the shelves in 2001
- Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were released in 2003
- Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen launched in 2004
- Pokemon Emerald came out a bit later than expected, in 2005
- Pokemon Diamond and Pearl arrived on the shelves in 2007
- Pokemon Platinum took two more years to be released, and it arrived in 2009
- Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver launched in 2010
- Pokemon Black and White shipped in 2011
- Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 came out in 2012
- Pokemon X and Y were released in 2013, and they were the first games to release worldwide simultaneously, a trend that later stuck to all other titles
- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire dropped in 2014
- Pokemon Sun and Moon launched in 2016
- Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon followed shortly after, launching just 1 year shy from the previous ones, in 2017
- Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee! came out in 2018
- In 2019 it was the turn of Pokemon Sword and Shield
- In 2020 the DLCs for Sword and Shield released, with DLC 1 being Isle of Armor, and DLC 2 being Crown Tundra
- 2021 will see the release of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set to drop sometime in 2022, but a release window has not been discussed yet
For Pokemon games involving new generations and new regions, the time that passed between releases varies from two to four years. If this was to be considered a pattern of sorts, then the average time gap would be 3 years, meaning that Pokemon generation 9 could drop in 2022, considering Sword and Shield released in 2019. However, this logic is not one that should be followed.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are releasing this year, but they are the first games to be produced outside of Game Freak, by another studio called ILCA Inc., and this piece of information is important when considering the amount of work behind Pokemon Legends: Arceus. In fact, the main reason why Game Freak did not develop the remake of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl lies in the fact that Pokemon Legends: Arceus is quite a creative endeavor, and it requires a lot of work for it to be finished and polished by 2022. Since this is the case, it is likely that players will not see news on Pokemon generation nine for a little longer than expected. New games could be announced anytime by the end of 2022, early 2023, or even at a later date.
Pokemon Generation 9 And The Future Legacy Of Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be the very first fully open-world Pokemon game in the history of the franchise, and it will most likely serve as a benchmark for future games of the series. It’s not implausible that a new Pokemon game involving generation nine critters will draw inspiration from both Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Sword and Shield made a few key steps towards the open-world design, and they introduced or improved a huge amount of features that improved the overall quality of life of these games. Pokemon Legends: Arceus will launch three years after Sword and Shield, give or take, meaning that further progress will be made in terms of how the title pans out and feels like while playing.
Pokemon games about generation nine will have to use the previous titles as a springboard, while also learning from what didn’t work for players in order to enhance critical areas that demand attention. If generation nine proves to build upon the legacy of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, then it is likely that it will take a bit longer than other mainline Pokemon games usually do, but with many assets already there it could take less than Legends: Arceus itself. Hopefully, the game will be worth the wait, and news drops sooner than expected, so as to surprise millions of fans.
No Pokemon generation nine games are known to be in development.
See more : PokemonWe