There's no shortage of Pokemon media out there, after all, it's the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, so it makes sense that The Pokemon Company would be capitalizing on the franchise's popularity with frequent video games, movies, shows, and the like. While there are plenty of different rabbit holes for fans to go down in terms of investment in the series, the mainline Pokemon games are always what pave the way when it comes to showcasing what direction the franchise is headed next with the most important games adding even more monsters to the National Pokedex.
This has caused a problem for the franchise: at 898 different types, there are simply too many Pokemon for fans of the series and Game Freak alike to keep track of. Luckily, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is taking a new approach to growing the franchise which could be a look into the future of sustainable growth for Pokemon as a whole by not adding very many new Pokemon to the Dex. Although it might not be what fans are wanting out of it, it's a good idea for Game Freak to lay off the creation of new monsters for a little while.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Approach to Franchise Growth
The writing on the wall for Game Freak has been written for quite some time, essentially since Pokemon Gold and Silver launched in 2000. Adding a whole slew of Pokemon to the Pokedex made a lot of sense to capitalize on the appeal of discovering and catching new Pokemon, but it brought up a question regarding what end the company would continue expanding the Dex. With each major entry in the series, Game Freak kept expanding as it seemed to be what fans of the franchise wanted, but now there are far too many to balance and include in each new title to be feasible.
To counter this issue, Game Freak announced that it would be taking a "revolving door" approach to which Pokemon would be featured in future games meaning that some would be included for some releases while others would be on deck for the next launch. Unfortunately, fans weren't particularly happy with that solution as evidenced by the controversy surrounding Pokemon Sword and Shield. The fan outcry doesn't seem to have impacted Game Freak's decision; however, as the studio is doing the same thing with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, only it's going one step further and drastically reducing the number of new Pokemon being added alongside the launch of the game.
Mainline Pokemon, as a whole, seems to be at something of a turning point. Fans have grown tired of the formula that the franchise has been sticking with since the original releases of Red and Blue so Legends: Arceus is looking to change things up in a major way. It seems as if Game Freak has wisely allocated its efforts into changing the gameplay of the series in a satisfying and meaningful way instead of cranking out 75-100 new monsters. This way, focus can be put on perfecting the game instead of arbitrarily adding more Pokemon to the Dex.
If the style of Pokemon Legends: Arceus is what's meant for the future of the series, then there will be plenty of time to introduce new monsters, but for now, Game Freak's step back from that makes a lot of sense for the preservation of the franchise and will likely be seen as a smart move in the long run. The next several years are going to be very formative for the Pokemon franchise and keeping things small to focus on making the games great is exactly what it needs as it starts growing into the idea of being a full-fledged console franchise.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus launches for the Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.