After 30 Years, Pokémon As We Knew It Is Over
Pokémon As We Know It Is Over, Leaker Warns
The Pokémon franchise as we know it is going to see a massive change in the near future, according to a leaker, and it may be slightly unrecognizable for long-time fans, given the changes that have been reported to be arriving. As Nintendo’s popular IP celebrates its 30th anniversary, Game Freak is at work on the Generation 10 games. The release of Pokémon Winds and Waves is scheduled for 2027, but it seems like there’s already a lot more in the pipeline, and the way the companies are scheduling future releases may have undergone a major change.
According to information provided by Centro Leaks, one of the most reliable sources of Pokémon leaks, in a post made on X, Game Freak is altering the way in which it tackles revisiting previous regions. This decision will ultimately affect the way the developer works on remakes, so fans may not be given access to older regions in the way that they’ve grown used to since the release of FireRed and LeafGreen back in 2004. Instead, it seems like the company is taking note of the positive feedback it’s obtained from some of its most recent releases.
Centro Leaks highlights that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, remakes of the Gen 4 titles, weren’t “supposed to exist,” and that Game Freak commissioned the remakes because of the uncertainty around how fans would receive Pokémon Legends: Arceus and its massive changes to gameplay. The leaker also points out that the remakes were very poorly received, while the new take on the formula, celebrating the Sinnoh region (when it was known as Hisui), was a hit among fans.
According to Centro Leaks, this has enabled Game Freak to revisit older regions from the IP in different ways, without following the order it has been in for decades now. For example, Unova was slightly revisited as a theme in the Indigo Disk DLC for Scarlet and Violet, since Blueberry Academy is located in Unova. Kalos was then revisited as the setting for Legends: Z-A, particularly Lumiose City. The leaker also highlights how the company will revisit older Pokémon regions in the future.
As pointed out by the leaker, Game Freak will allegedly return to the Galar region as a prequel in the third installment of the Legends series. All the Japanese-themed regions (namely Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh), according to the leaker, will appear in the highly rumored Pokémon Project Seed, said to be an upcoming MMORPG in the series. They also mention that the Alola region may be revisited in some way.
An important detail mentioned by Centro Leaks is that the classic remakes that Game Freak has been creating between Generations will not cease to exist entirely, given that the remake formula has a tendency to be a success. However, the company will now focus on expanding aspects of its existing regions through brand-new games. Based on the leaks, the developers already have a loaded pipeline for the Pokémon series well past its 30th anniversary.