Is Pokemon being milked for cash now?

[Arronchard]

Don't get me wrong, I adore Pokemon, My first game was Gold on the GBC. But recently I've noticed that the games just seem to get shorter and less well thought out, and the new Pokemon are garbage (Trubbish for instance, which is literally garbage.)

Let's take X/Y for instance, it was a good leap from 2D to 3D, making your Pokemon seem more alive than just a bunch of pixels, but it was incredibly short and the new Pokemon were even shorter in number, although it made up for it in character customization and the mega evolution feature, it still felt as if it was incomplete. Then the remake of Ruby/ Sapphire came out which I was very excited for but then I downloaded the demo, I was hoping for my childhood love of ruby to come back as a 3D remaster but what I seemed to find was just a rehashed continuation featuring the old characters which made no sense to me, but I'm just going off of the demo as I cannot afford the full game, sadly, and the primal evolutions? Well to me just sounds like an attempt to keep people interested even though the mega's were enough for me, what's next Gamefreak? Super Saiyan evolution all the way up to a blue haired Pikachu? Which makes me rather skeptical of the new and upcoming "Sun and moon"

I mean if Unova's map design was just one big lazy circle what could they do to make more money for less ideas? Just a straight line? Maybe a zigzag? And don't get me started on these new free to play Pokemon which takes the great spin off of rumble or the simple joy of picross then just lather it up with micro transactions just to make you enjoy the game, I really hope Nintendo doesn't start going down the road of EA, Sure it's more money for them but does that mean less joy for us? What next? Just the title screen and main theme for $29.99? What do you guys think on the subject?

 

[Pandaxclone2]

Is Pokemon being milked for cash? Probably, but doubtful for the reasons put forward in the OP. You could say that Pokemon's been milking it for some time now ever since Gen III since it was supposed to end at Gen II.

As a general rule of thumb, it's not wise to pick apart at newer generation designs as it'll net you this likely response, "What about Gen I? Balls with screws and magnets? Six eggs with a big cracked on in the middle?"
"A whatever this thing is?

"

Generally speaking, Pokemon are meant to be personifications of anything, be it animal, object or otherwise, so while trubbish seems like a silly thing it's not quite a valid argument since silly designs have been part of Pokemon since the beginning. Moving on...

A remake by definition is to make something again, sometimes with some differences, so to say it's a rehash would be like saying the sky is blue. If that's not what you wanted then a remake is not for you, but the ORAS demo is meant to showcase a small bit of the game (with a little bit of exclusive content to the demo only added to the side) and doesn't represent the entirety of it.

As for Primal reversion, think of it basically as a mega evolution as that's all it is, except using it does not use up your 1 mega evolution per active fight limit, so bonus. Also, ORAS has even more mega evolutions, with XY having 28 mega evolutions and ORAS adding an additional 20 to that (excluding the Primal Reversions of which there are only 2.)

Besides, I kinda like the idea of primal reversion because it reinforces just how powerful Groudon and Kyogre (and by extension Rayquaza) were. I mean think about it; these are the two pokemon who battled so fiercely that they terraformed the entire Pokemon planet. Compared to Pokemon that control Space, Time & Antimatter, a Yin & Yang balance and Life & Death itself, these Pokemon sorely needed to become a force to be reckoned with again, and this primal side to them gives off that vibe.

Unova's map design while lazy is really the only instance of this happening, and even then it's still better than a zig-zag like you've suggested. You may also notice that Unova's the only generation to force new generation Pokemon only and expel the older generations until post game. This may be just me, but Gen V didn't seem all that popular or smart with it's choices. Good thing Gen VI picked things back up.

And as far as Pokemon Rumble World and Picross are concerned, I believe they were attempts to try out the freemium model that's all the rage these days with mobile gaming. If it's any consolation, Pokemon Rumble World was released as a retail game too that's no longer dependant on the freemium model, so that's a bonus.

Personally I believe Pokemon has more or less been an enjoyable and worthwhile experience (except for Gen V; we don't talk about that.) Some might look at the franchise as if it's been beaten to a bloody pulp by now and they could be right. But hey, as long as you're still enjoying the (main) game series and like playing them in spite of perceived shortcomings it shouldn't matter.

 

[Arcanine]

Well the thing is, pokemon red and blue basically changed video games forever and were incredibly popular. Any wise company would use this as a cash cow opportunity. I feel as though they are not putting incredible amounts of effort into making these, especially with XY. And anyone can easily remake a game

 

[3905]

I agree with @Edward Elric. Red and Blue became super popular at the time, so as any business would do, they would expand on a successful franchise and get more money off of it. Plus it's not like they aren't putting effort into the new games, they are continuously creating new elements, pokemon, battle mechanics, and storylines for players to experience no matter which game they decide to pick up from the past 20 years. Plus with Sun and Moon on the board, more people are getting super excited for what the franchise has to offer for the upcoming generation of Pokemon!

 

[Samuel_1802]

Pokémon has always been a cash cow --even since before it hit the west-- the amount of advertising it got was insane. Also the merch, it may seem we have too much right now, but it's always been like that. Pokémon was (and still is, in my opinion) a phenomenon, it had toys, trading cards, the anime, movies, clothes, you name it they had it and even more.

In terms of Pokémon designs, I think, like users before me, that you're being unfair. Yes we got a literally trash Pokémon, and an ice cream cone, but in Gen I we got a Poké Ball and slime. Arguments like those are simply irrelevant. To be honest people just beat on newer generations if it has just a couple oddballs. The reason why some Pokémon get their designs are because of the region they're based off of. Unova was based on the US, New York to be precise, and a characteristic of big cities like those is the high amount of pollution and abundance of junk/fast foods, the Vanillite and Trubbish lines are the embodiment of that. You also have to keep in mind that Ken Sugimori (the guy behind most Pokémon designs) is an artist, artists change their art style, and one that doesn't do so usually ends up being stuck in the past, forgotten by people. The region itself did have a lazy design, and that's GAMEFREAK's attempt at streamlining the experience for the younger audience. They did take it too far but they learn from their mistakes, you only have to look at B2W2's map, it's a lot more diverse and less linear. You could apply this argument to Kalos too, it's just a bunch of loops that end up in Lumiose City, the difference is that it's more seamless.

I'm not going to touch on the "free to start" much, the mobile market is expanding every day, and companies can't just simply ignore that fact. Just like any smart business, they're taking advantage of it and making money off it.

In general, is Pokémon a cash cow? Yes, definitely. But that's not a recent thing, oh no. It's been like this ever since the beginning! However, there is a big difference between the 90s and the present. Technology and society have changed dramatically in a mere 20 years, and a series like this, if it still wants to survive (which it does), has to evolve along them. For the better or the worse? That's up to everyone's perspective.

 

[SmashChamp]

I don't think so, but with the spin offs, they're free, but sap up the money. I don't spend anything on them, but others get there money sapped away like crazy. I don't think they've completely been overcome with milking cash, but they may be getting close... Mainly with those spin-offs.

 

[2071]

I don't really think so either. I think that it's just that the way the latest Pokemon games are currently just seems to make an impression that they are milking for money. The spin-offs on the other hand is basically milking money just by looking at it and playing it for just a few minutes. Pokemon games now are trying newer innovations

 

[Pookie]

Nah, I don't think so. The jump from 2D to 3D was a great jump, xy was amazing, oras was amazing. All of the Pokemon games were amazing in my opinion. I love Pokemon and I don't think it's being milked for cash at all.