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Game Freak "prioritising original projects... more than Pokémon", has adopted a new structure

Dwebble

Dwebble

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Oct 25, 2017
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Video Games Chronicle has an interview up with Masayuki Onoue, a programmer at Game Freak and the director of Giga Wrecker, which breaks down Game Freak's current structure, and makes the eye-catching point that the company is more inclined to focus upon its new original efforts than on Pokémon.

Pokémon developer Game Freak is increasingly prioritising original game creation, in order to grow the experience of its staff.
That's according to programmer and director Masayuki Onoue, who told VGC that by taking breaks from its flagship Pokémon series, Game Freak's creators can return to the franchise "refreshed" and improve the series with experience gained.
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"There are two different production teams here, simply named Production Team 1 and Production Team 2," Onoue explained. "Team 1 is fully dedicated to Gear Project, while Team 2 is for the Pokémon operation."

"What that means is that Game Freak as a company is prioritising Gear Project, which is production team number one, more than Pokémon in general. We are always trying to create something that is equally exciting, or more exciting than Pokémon.
"There is a lot of back-and-forth between Team 1 and Team 2," he added. "One of the interesting things is that Team 2, which is dedicated to Pokémon, only knows about specific platforms.
"So with Team 2, engineers can learn about other platforms that they might not have touched before. By mixing up the teams we are able to create this interesting synergy."
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He also goes into the reason why Game Freak is able to put out Pokémon, Town and Giga Wrecker in a single year.

One reason the previously handheld-only developer is suddenly able to output three console-quality releases in a year is down to its newly formed R&D division, Onoue explained.
"R&D is a newly founded division which is creating the basic library, which used to be created every single time we made a project. That helps the efficiency of our production for sure.
"Also, we are looking at what's going on in the future, from a technical perspective, and that's something else that we've never had before. I think that R&D division will certainly contribute to the future of Game Freak."
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cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,699
Whatever it takes to keep the people not working on Pokemon motivated.

" You guys are our main focus....for sure"

Anyway im looking forward to more new content from GF - Town looked already more interesting than last years Pokemon remakes.
 
Onix555

Onix555

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Apr 23, 2019
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Spicy bet: Microsoft will announce theyre aquiring GameFreak at E3.


EDIT: /s since people here can't detect sarcasm apparently.
 
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808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

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Oct 27, 2017
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One reason the previously handheld-only developer is suddenly able to output three console-quality releases in a year is down to its newly formed R&D division, Onoue explained.
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That's a stretch. Also

Make 👏🏽a 👏🏽Drill 👏🏽Dozer 👏🏽sequel
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
18,650
hmm, interesting choice. new original projects is not a bad idea, but i cant see them really shifting focus away from one of the biggest gaming IPs ever and into more original projects, we will see.

0MAR10 said:
so that's why the new games look like complete dog shit
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i was not impressed with the game's visuals as well, looks like a project that started on the 3ds and moved to the switch mid development.
 
brambles13

brambles13

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Oct 27, 2017
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I do not get how one of the highest profit developers in gaming with essentially no major flops still acts like a tiny indie studio. These Pokemon games should have the budget of any modern AAA game by a major studio but they never seem to do. It makes me wonder how much profit Game Freak is just hoarding.
 
jman0625

jman0625

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Dec 18, 2017
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So are games like Tembo and HarmoKnight the cause for the decrease in quality in all Pokemon games after Gen 5?
 

Deleted member 1413

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Oct 25, 2017
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Giga Wrecker got a pretty mixed reception.
Doesn't seem like Tembo sold too well.
Town is a small eShop game about a single town that disappeared.
Sword looks like an HD remaster of a 3DS game.

Things don't seem great
 
Serebii

Serebii

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Oct 24, 2017
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0MAR10 said:
so that's why the new games look like complete dog shit
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Are we really doing this bullshit?

It's not that they're not prioritising Pokémon. It's that they have a team that focuses on non-Pokémon titles. Jesus Christ.

God I hate the whole "let's just read the headline and not the context/nuance"
 

Wander_

Banned
Feb 26, 2018
5,552
if other projects look better than pokemon and/or are for other consoles as well then I'm done with em.

edit: well, town already looked better so ugh.
 

TronLight

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Jun 17, 2018
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"R&D is a newly founded division which is creating the basic library, which used to be created every single time we made a project. That helps the efficiency of our production for sure. "

Excuse me? They never thought "Hmm, maybe we could reuse the foundation of that game which is 90% the same as the new game we're making"?
 
Glio

Glio

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It is good that they work on other things besides Pokémon, that allows to keep developers motivated and experiment with different ideas.
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

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Onix555 said:
Spicy bet: Microsoft will announce theyre aquiring GameFreak at E3.
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Dont ever play the lottery

I think this is a good thing. GF needs more technical experience and Pokemon needs more time in the oven. TPC will also have to make more spinoffs of fill in the gaps. We just might get that more open pokemon we've been hoping for
 
Post Reply

Post Reply

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Aug 1, 2018
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"R&D is a newly founded division which is creating the basic library, which used to be created every single time we made a project. That helps the efficiency of our production for sure.
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R&D proposal: "What if we reused our code libraries and assets instead of remaking them for every new game?"

Management: "We can do that?"
slowly_take_glasses_off..gif
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

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Oct 28, 2017
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Hmm thread went downhill quicker than even my exceedingly low expectations for the level of discourse were expecting it to.

Laughable that people genuinely believe this site is actually biased *towards* Nintendo.
 
Asuka3+1

Asuka3+1

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Feb 6, 2019
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brambles13 said:
I do not get how one of the highest profit developers in gaming with essentially no major flops still acts like a tiny indie studio. These Pokemon games should have the budget of any modern AAA game by a major studio but they never seem to do. It makes me wonder how much profit Game Freak is just hoarding.
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GF is not exactly a Good developer skill wise, they keep doing the pokemon games cause they have some sort of exclusive rights to the main line games. Pokemon Gold was an unsalvable mess till Iwata step in, X n Y had single frame drops in a turn based games. Among other stuff.

They could really use that experience they talk about in thr article cause they need it
 

TronLight

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Jun 17, 2018
2,620
Serebii said:
Are we really doing this bullshit?

It's not that they're not prioritising Pokémon. It's that they have a team that focuses on non-Pokémon titles. Jesus Christ.

God I hate the whole "let's just read the headline and not the context/nuance"
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Can't wait for the inevitable "of course it's a bad game, it was made by the B team", like with Naughty Dog and and I don't remember the others.
 

Deleted member 2791

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Asuka3+1 said:
GF is not exactly a Good developer skill wise, they keep doing the pokemon games cause they have some sort of exclusive rights to the main line games. Pokemon Gold was an unsalvable mess till Iwata step in, X n Y had single frame drops in a turn based games. Among other stuff.
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ive rarely seen such a misinformed and terrible post in my life
 
JohnDoe

JohnDoe

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Oct 26, 2017
164
Why should I trust a developer who can't even do their main IP (which sells millions by default) justice with a new one? They can keep dogshit like Town to themselves.
 

Deleted member 249

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I have literally never seen a hate on as bad as Era has for Game Freak, jfc.

On topic, this is good, and I'm glad they are branching out into more IP and platforms. I hope the quality of Pokemon does not suffer.
 
Estarossa

Estarossa

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Oct 25, 2017
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Who do I need to please for a more competent developer to take away the mainline games from GF?

11XNC4w.jpg
 
Thardin

Thardin

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Jan 7, 2018
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JohnDoe said:
Why should I trust a developer who can't even do their main IP (which sells millions by default) justice with a new one? They can keep dogshit like Town to themselves.
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What are you even on about? They're making a new game for their main IP...

This thread started off shit and somehow quickly got worse...
 
TyrantGuardian

TyrantGuardian

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Oct 25, 2017
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Good. The mainline Pokémon games have long overstayed their welcome in my opinion. I hope they can leave those behind sooner rather than later and start making something more interesting.
 
BhetjaXIV

BhetjaXIV

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Sep 8, 2018
659
Belgium
Wow at those driveby posts.

That's a good thing imo. I kinda want to see gamefreak doing new stuff without changing Pokémon too much. Since I like the steady pace of "evolution" the Pokémon brand is getting.
 
0MAR10

0MAR10

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Oct 27, 2017
151
Louisiana
Serebii said:
Are we really doing this bullshit?

It's not that they're not prioritising Pokémon. It's that they have a team that focuses on non-Pokémon titles. Jesus Christ.

God I hate the whole "let's just read the headline and not the context/nuance"
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No, don't negate my opinion just because you want, idc what official account you are. Pokémon Sword and Shield look absolutely horrid to me and it's a shame that this is what's GameFreak created for a console game while we have OTHER $60 games like Zelda that literally break boundaries in story telling and gameplay and graphics.
 
Glio

Glio

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Oct 27, 2017
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Definitely the threads about Game Freak need a reminder about "Lazy developers" like all Epic Store threads need one.
 
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