Quick thoughts on Pokémon fan demands

(originally written on 3rd April 2021)

Consumers need to understand that commercial products can’t satisfy their niche needs AND sell enough to continue production and appease shareholders.

I’m not a defender of capitalism—it’s a system we’re all part of in some way—but as part of that, we’ve seen what it can do to entities that try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one and going out of business.

Like, I’ve seen a lot of Pokémon content creators start playing fan-made games on their streams and saying they wish the main games were like them. But they forget that casual gamers make up more of their market than people wanting hard mode Pokémon games.

Why the hell would Game Freak build in a meta-esque system by default in that case? If you wanna Nuzlocke… go Nuzlocke. If you wanna play with special rules… self-impose them. Or play the fan-made games as you already are.

Reading Dr. Lava’s snippets of Masuda interviews has made me realise he wants to make fun games for all to enjoy with expansive worlds and opportunities for people to make their own stories through them. I think that’s beautiful and it’s worked on me, clearly.