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Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

Hey, Yokai Watch, how did being the next Pokemon killer work out for ya?... Yokai Watch? Yokai Watch, hello...



... oh.



While I know there's many who are saying they shouldn't be charging that much (and I'll accept I was, and a bit still am, part of that group), also note no one would be saying that if they made the service feel like it's worth it. Would it have broke the bank for them to port the Dream World (and note I'm using the Dream World as it's the easiest example I can think of, while I liked the Dream World it wasn't the most impressive thing but it was an online feature which had a lot of value to it... and it was FREE)? If you're going to charge us 16 bucks a year, give us something that's worth 16 bucks. Because, guess what, if you did that not only would there be way less criticism but also you wouldn't have to hold everyone's older Pokemon hostage.



Question, do they count the combination package as two separate games? Cause I think a lot of people might have gotten that deal this time around and if you count that as one sell I think that number might be lower.
Probably, Sword outsells Shield in pretty much every list top sales list for Switch I’ve seen. That being said, they have yet to give individual numbers for the games. That’s got me curious, how much does SwSh sell if we count them as separate games.
 
I’ve played Temtem...honestly found it thoroughly mediocre. There’s a difference between being inspired by something and just ripping it off. Freedom Planet, for example, is clearly taking inspiration from Sonic, yet it still has its own clear identity. Temtem on the other hand felt like they took Pokemon, made enough changes not to get sued, and called it a day. They also added a stamina metre for some reason. In a real time game,sure, but there’s no need for one in a turn based game. Want to stop players from spamming the same attacks over and over again? Give the attacks a limited number of usage, havethe more powerful ones have severe drawbacks, Have some attacks deal more damage to certain enemies et cetera.

It’s not a Pokemon killer. This time next year I doubt anyone will even remember it
 
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Give the attacks a limited number of usage, havethe more powerful ones have severe drawbacks, Have some attacks deal more damage to certain enemies et cetera.
I'd point that Pokemon does this and PPs are largely irrelevant outside of stall matchups (that do not exist in the official format, expecially considering the punishing timers), the recoil is rarely factored as a downside, and the stat drop is rarely considered a issue when it can net you a ko to begin with :P
 
This is the first time this millennium that we don't know everything about a new mythical long before it's officially announced. I like it.

(Early 3DS had some mystery, but I think they eventually got hacks working before Diancie was announced.)
I assume GF aknowledged that hackers exist, and that Datamine is bound to happen.
With the fact that Switch makes patches much easier to distribute, the best way was to just not have the pokemon in the datafiles to begin with.
In fact, if they didn't forget to remove the indexes from the pokemon list data, we'd not have known about the existance of unidentified pokemon at all.

Heh, sometimes they get it right.
 
Hey, Yokai Watch, how did being the next Pokemon killer work out for ya?... Yokai Watch? Yokai Watch, hello...



... oh.
I was referring to online support, communication and general customer service: of all of the above, GF and Pokemon are an egregious example of how not to do it. And the landscape was completely different, as you probably know better than me.
Let me be clear: TemTem is nothing revolutionary nor God of War, but they're very good at communicating with the playerbase. But hey, let's keep ditching every potential competitor as an afterthought and keep justifying everything, that's how we ended here.

While I know there's many who are saying they shouldn't be charging that much (and I'll accept I was, and a bit still am, part of that group), also note no one would be saying that if they made the service feel like it's worth it. Would it have broke the bank for them to port the Dream World (and note I'm using the Dream World as it's the easiest example I can think of, while I liked the Dream World it wasn't the most impressive thing but it was an online feature which had a lot of value to it... and it was FREE)? If you're going to charge us 16 bucks a year, give us something that's worth 16 bucks. Because, guess what, if you did that not only would there be way less criticism but also you wouldn't have to hold everyone's older Pokemon hostage.
Usual disclaimer: I'm sure the games are fun as hell.

Actual answer: why should they care? It's like part of the most aware playerbase has Stockholm Syndrome's to GF: whatever they put forward, I may complain, but I will accept and buy regardless which is, rightfully so, the only thing they care about.
Sales are impressive (more on that later) and I doubt that the population I belong to ("I'm not buying the game but still participating in the active discussion and keep an open mind about it") is approximately anything more than 0.01% of the prospect clients.
I'm not pulling 0.01% out of thin air: they already sold 16 million copies and, if we count those as 16 million players (I know it's less, but the released data I'm basing my analysis on does not provide the specifics), I highly doubt that people that decided against buying are hardly more than 16000 (which is exactly 0.01%): of the vocal complaining minority, anecdotal evidence if you will, I've seen an awful lot of "well, I still gave it a try". Even if they were more than 0.01%, the likelihood of finally giving in is high. And I am confident that people actively only purchasing used copies to avoid giving their money directly to GF are but a literal handful.

Now, I don't have the most important piece of information to judge sales impact (like expected sales, contribution margin and increase in per unit development cost compared to previous entries), but just to put it into perspective of how little it means to them:

16'000 people (0,01%) not buying * 60 USD pricetag = 960'000 USD

Total sales: 16.06 million units* 60 USD pricetag = 963'600'000 USD

It would be so minuscule that even if the game margins only 10 USD a copy due to extra development, marketing and consolle porting costs (which they don't, trust me), the 20 USD increased pricetag alone would cover for the lost sales within the first 96'000 units, or 5.76 million USD if you prefer. It's a literal drop in the ocean and I'm sure they accounted for such a minuscule backlash and were pretty safe.

All of the above was really, really rudimentary, but it's just to give an idea. Their financial structure is actually pretty remarkable.

Question, do they count the combination package as two separate games? Cause I think a lot of people might have gotten that deal this time around and if you count that as one sell I think that number might be lower.
From both statements I've seen I cannot dissect data between Sword, Shield and dual game package - but it's still two units/software produced, so it is irrelevant to the count, I guess.
 
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I was referring to online support, communication and general customer service: of all of the above, GF and Pokemon are an egregious example of how not to do it. And the landscape was completely different, as you probably know better than me.


None of that perceivable from the original post you made.

Let me be clear: TemTem is nothing revolutionary nor God of War, but they're very good at communicating with the playerbase. But hey, let's keep ditching every potential competitor as an afterthought and keep justifying everything, that's how we ended here.


But that's the problem: the Pokemon killer is HAS TO BE revolutionary. As you mention, Pokemon has a strong foothold in culture (game culture, pop culture, public awareness, etc.). Honestly Yokai Watch for a time I thought could have been what Pokemon needed, a rival (yes, ironic a mainstay in the Pokemon franchise which is supposed to push the player to be better is something Pokemon Company don't have in real life). It came out swinging (helped it had some major companies backing it) and it did overtake Pokemon in popularity in Japan. However, considering it's strong Japanese roots, it sadly fizzled out thus the more flexible Pokemon was able to reign once again. And from what I'm seeing of TemTem... yeah there's just something there that's not clicking for me.

Actual answer: why should they care? It's like part of the most aware playerbase has Stockholm Syndrome's to GF: whatever they put forward, I may complain, but I will accept and buy regardless which is, rightfully so, the only thing they care about.
Sales are impressive (more on that later) and I doubt that the population I belong to ("I'm not buying the game but still participating in the active discussion and keep an open mind about it") is approximately anything more than 0.1% of the prospect clients.
I'm not pulling 0.01% out of thin air: they already sold 16 million copies and, if we count those as 16 million players (I know it's less, but the released data I'm basing my analysis on does not provide the specifics), I highly doubt that people that decided against buying are hardly more than 16000 (which is exactly 0.01%): of the vocal complaining minority, anecdotal evidence if you will, I've seen an awful lot of "well, I still gave it a try". Even if they were more than 0.01%, the likelihood of finally giving in is high. And I am confident that people actively only purchasing used copies to avoid giving their money directly to GF are but a literal handful.


I just want to point out the original point of my post is that there was a way to make $16 bucks worth it. And that GF just had as much reason to do it as they just had as much reason not to do it.

Otherwise I do agree with you as do many of us as shown through the last few pages.
 
I just want to point out the original point of my post is that there was a way to make $16 bucks worth it. And that GF just had as much reason to do it as they just had as much reason not to do it.
I would honestly say that right now, with the absurd majority of the playerbase NOT being inclined to the quality/price ratio (since they barely would understand it anyway, or wouldn't care), they are in a position that allows them to take gambles that have high reward and low risk.

I don't usually agree with Dialganet2 's posts, but that one I do agree with: the losses for questionable financial/quality choices from GameFreaks are so minimal compared to the gains, that (as long as actual competition arises) they can get away with them, and I can't really blame GF for doing so, after all, business and marketing aren't about fairness, and "get as much money for as little effort as you can get away with" is a sadly recurring trend in modern gaming industry, as anyone who is into AAA gaming knows by now.

Well, that is until they do something *actually* awful that would drive away the young playerbase (or their parents). But it's hard to figure out a way to fuck up THAT bad that they would drive away kids.
 
I'm very curious about this new mythical being added to SwSh. Does it mean that it will be added to SwSh on the 27th itself, or perhaps as part of the Isle of Armour update? If it's the former, then that's pretty damn awesome. And, as said, it'll be nice for one of these to actually be a surprise for once!
 
I assume GF aknowledged that hackers exist, and that Datamine is bound to happen.
With the fact that Switch makes patches much easier to distribute, the best way was to just not have the pokemon in the datafiles to begin with.
In fact, if they didn't forget to remove the indexes from the pokemon list data, we'd not have known about the existance of unidentified pokemon at all.

Heh, sometimes they get it right.
Course it's gamefeak so here we are 3 months out with us having known about Gmax Toxtricity and Melmetal. Not to mention Gmax Snorlax before its release, alongside that batch of 35 pokemon.

So as always with gamefreaks, couple steps forward but not TOO forward. If there had been a demo somehow, someway, they would leak every pokemon again despite doong more scrubbing lol


But that aside it's cool theyre trying to hype this up more. No longer just a code and download with a movie spot. Max raids! Tie in event with Masters! AND available in Go!
I think they learned from Meltan how to make mythical releases more interesting
 
So as always with gamefreaks, couple steps forward but not TOO forward.
Well, that's better than going backwards on every aspect I suppose >_>

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the various G-max "missing" are just going to be available via event (maybe for some movie or anime event) or are planned to showup in the DLCs later on.

I'm very curious about this new mythical being added to SwSh. Does it mean that it will be added to SwSh on the 27th itself, or perhaps as part of the Isle of Armour update? If it's the former, then that's pretty damn awesome. And, as said, it'll be nice for one of these to actually be a surprise for once!
Should be added straight away. The wording seems to imply we'll be able to fight and catch it via Max Raids.
 
Wait, hold on
I think we're all misreading what is happening here.

On a second reading it seems more like, here is what to expect from pokemon day in celebration. That is, there will be the Mythic reveal AND special raids AND special GO event AND more news on Masters. As opposed to "There will be a Mythical reveal WITH a special raid WITH a special go raid WITH an addition to Masters." Serebii is listing them out as separate things and the Masters info in particular is just "New information about Pokémon Masters will be revealed ".

So the raid could just be something like the christmas or new years raid, some pokemon is/are chosen to be more comon and they'll give away something interesting like rare moves for easy kills or a lot of rare items or something. Go will get a full event to celebrate the anniversary, probably in line with all its other event celebrations with an assortment of rare pokemon made available and special research and we'll just get the latest update on plans for Masters moving forward as they continue to navigate their way out of the trashfire they made at launch. And on top of those 3 things, a mythic will be revealed.
 
It's funny, because after the DLCs were revealed I just assumed the two vacant slots in the datamine were for Urshifu and Calyrex. Guess I was wrong


Hopefully they do something cool with this new Mythical, imo Meltan had really great set-up and the aforementioned legendaries seem pretty high effort lorewise too. Don't let us down!
 
And completely unannounced, this is not a drill! Star and Ribbon sweets are now available!

"The Wild Area Event has now shifted in Pokémon Sword & Shield. With this, Alcremie has left the boosted raids while Coalossal, Flapple, Lapras & Appletun remain. However, joining them is high ranking Milcery but some of these Milcery have the ability to evolve into Alcremie and have the capability of Gigantamaxing. With this, the special Ribbon and Star Sweets are also now available for players as rewards for defeating the Milcery raids. This allows for any of the 63 forms of Alcremie to now be available as Gigantamax Variants. "
~Serebii
 
So the raid could just be something like the christmas or new years raid, some pokemon is/are chosen to be more comon and they'll give away something interesting like rare moves for easy kills or a lot of rare items or something. Go will get a full event to celebrate the anniversary, probably in line with all its other event celebrations with an assortment of rare pokemon made available and special research and we'll just get the latest update on plans for Masters moving forward as they continue to navigate their way out of the trashfire they made at launch. And on top of those 3 things, a mythic will be revealed.
While you aren't wrong, I don't see what they could throw in raids considering the current G-max event isn't ending for a bit.

Now, I still hope we get to fight this whatever pokemon in Max raids and catch it, and maybe it could even be a somewhat hard one...
 
None of that perceivable from the original post you made.
Oh, is it so?
The services proposed are the bare minimum with any game with compatibility and continuity content, and they know that the loyal fanbase that wants to transfer over mons and collections can hardly cope without Bank/Home. So, what they do is try to dumb down the game for the "masses" as much as possible (as if doing the bare minimum is acceptable: unless disaster strikes, they're in for a rude awakening when TemTem hits, mark my words), while gating everything behind a paywall for people that really want the service.
Yep, you're right. I mentioned it in the right paragraph but I phrased it completely wrong. I sometimes get lost in my train of thought so much that I patch things together in the wrong way.
But that's the problem: the Pokemon killer is HAS TO BE revolutionary. As you mention, Pokemon has a strong foothold in culture (game culture, pop culture, public awareness, etc.). Honestly Yokai Watch for a time I thought could have been what Pokemon needed, a rival (yes, ironic a mainstay in the Pokemon franchise which is supposed to push the player to be better is something Pokemon Company don't have in real life). It came out swinging (helped it had some major companies backing it) and it did overtake Pokemon in popularity in Japan. However, considering it's strong Japanese roots, it sadly fizzled out thus the more flexible Pokemon was able to reign once again. And from what I'm seeing of TemTem... yeah there's just something there that's not clicking for me.
In reality, I would be satisfied without a "Pokemon killer", all I ask is for GF's ambition to be rejuvenated and sparked anew by something I see. There is a huge middle ground to cover between giving your playerbase the dream experience they long for and doing the bare minimum - all I really want is for them to take a few steps towards the former. If they don't have the inherent ambition to do so, a little push from outside could help.

I guess that success fatigue could also be mitigated by a change of top management but that's not happening, given the results.
I just want to point out the original point of my post is that there was a way to make $16 bucks worth it. And that GF just had as much reason to do it as they just had as much reason not to do it.

Otherwise I do agree with you as do many of us as shown through the last few pages.
This refers to everything: I am sorry if I sounded too abrasive in my response, I know where you stand from your reaction to the news a few pages ago and I'm usually pretty good at bantering but the stark contrast of feelings from the DLC announcement to this (and the general defeatist attitude I see around) got the better of me.

Worldie is right, though: their ambition has been buried by years of financial galore: understandable, but sad, and they never had significant enough backlash to justify any change of course. You propose very nice things but they both don't need to and they've come to the conclusion that they don't even want to. As I said, sad but understandable.
I don't usually agree with Dialganet2 's posts, but that one I do agree with: the losses for questionable financial/quality choices from GameFreaks are so minimal compared to the gains, that (as long as actual competition arises) they can get away with them, and I can't really blame GF for doing so, after all, business and marketing aren't about fairness, and "get as much money for as little effort as you can get away with" is a sadly recurring trend in modern gaming industry, as anyone who is into AAA gaming knows by now.
May you tell me why? You think I am exaggerating or overblowing things out of proportion, or do you think I have a flawed point of view? I'm honestly just genuinely curious, if you feel like we'd clog the thread with the same usual complaints, feel free to drop me a PM, if you're in the mood. I'd love discussing about this in a civil manner.
Well, that is until they do something *actually* awful that would drive away the young playerbase (or their parents). But it's hard to figure out a way to fuck up THAT bad that they would drive away kids.
As you say, close to impossible. Even unfathomable. There is potential risk and privacy issues (in Europe) regarding the phone GTS thing and the GDPR privacy compliance regulation, but it's a long shot and something catastrophic would need to happen (like a massive data breach or discovering that they use the app to access the other personal information you have on your phone).

To finally move on from this, I'm glad we're getting a new Mythical outside of the DLCs legends! Now, the wording of Serebii's post is a bit ambiguous, but I hope it will be available in raids: you can actually give players some immersion, instead of just having a giveaway in Pokemon Centers (that always seemed counter intuitive: the most elusive mons given by a random guy, already caught, in a gathering place. Such immersion, really...) - maybe a good battle to boot. A good decision.
 
While you aren't wrong, I don't see what they could throw in raids considering the current G-max event isn't ending for a bit.

Now, I still hope we get to fight this whatever pokemon in Max raids and catch it, and maybe it could even be a somewhat hard one...
Huh? There's plenty of time. Pokemon Day is on the 27th and the current set of raids ends on the 6th. Shoot they could start and end an entirely different raid event before this one starts.
And they can always just cull repeat dens for new event den(s). They've done that before. The initial Butterfree/Sandaconda/Drednaw event originally worked like Butterfree/GMaxButterfree/Sandaconda/GMaxSandaconda/Drednaw/GMaxDrednaw. Then in the middle of this event, GmAx Snorlax happened. They overwrote the standard Butterfree & Sandaconda to have Snorlax & Gmax snorlax. Then when Christmas happened for 5 days Delibird replaced the normal snorlax.
And so on and so forth.
 
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