Pokémon X and Y released to critical acclaim earlier this month, and while I'm sure no one's close enough to a complete Pokédex, gamers are wondering what's in store for the future of the franchise. Granted, it looks like there's a Pikachu game on the horizon, but what about the other 700 some odd pocket monsters? If you were hoping to see DLC extend the life of the two games, don't count on it.
The franchise's Art Director Ken Sugimori recently explained as much in a recent interview translated by Siliconera:
"When it comes to business, the one thing I've always said 'no!' to is the act of buying Pokémon with money. That is something that has been said since the days [creator Satoshi] Tajiri was completely involved in everything."
"The reason being, is because it's one of things that could 'ruin the worldview' of Pokémon. I believe the reason we don't simply commercialize [Pokémon], is that it's a way of protecting the brand, and for this purpose, we have the specialty company called The Pokémon Company. Therefore, suppose we sell a Pokémon for 100 yen, then we must prepare something that is worthy of that 100 yen, along with a reasonable consent for doing so."
It's actually refreshing to hear the company take a stance like that, especially with so many developers announcing DLC for a game before it even releases, indicating that they easily could've included the additional content in the game for free, had they so chosen.
Of course, had they gone the other route, Nintendo and GameFreak would've easily been skewered for such a decision, even though they could've really raked in the dough. Imagine the backlash at the announcment that if players wanted a complete pokedex, they'd have to shell out an additional amount of money for each new DLC pokémon. Or if you had to pay for more starter pokémon to choose from at the beginning.
In the end, I think Nintendo and the Pokémon company made a wide decision.
After a worldwide release (a special release party was held at Nintendo's World Store in Manhattan to celebrate the game's launch), Nintendo has announced that the two games together have sold more than 4 million copies across the globe within two days of their release, according to internal estimates.
The seven figure sales number makes Pokémon X and Y "the fastest-selling Nintendo 3DS title" of the console's short but sweet 2 year history, as well as one the most popular Pokémon games of all time, outselling both Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 by over 70 percent.
Both games are available now on the 3DS and 2DS.
