Pokemon 2019 Confirmed to be Gen 8, Will Be Made for Longtime Fans Instead of Series Newcomers

When Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu and Let’s GO Eevee were announced, there were some long time fans of the series that felt betrayed- the series has already been tending towards easier games aimed at newcomers for a few years now, leading to the simplification of a lot of the games’ nuance, and now here was another game aimed entirely at introducing new fans to the franchise.

To placate these fans, Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company confirmed that a new Pokemon game would be coming next year- which is good news, yes, but without information on what the game might be, or what it may be like, it’s hard to hold on to it for hope or hype, right?

Well, now we finally have information on what we should be expecting from these new games. Speaking to Japanese publication Famitsu (via Serebii), The Pokémon Company CEO, Tsunekazu Ishihara confirmed the new game will contain many new Pokemon- which means a new generation. Further (via Nintendo Everything), he added that the games will have far better graphics than any Pokemon game before them, and that, rather than being aimed as entry points for new fans, they will be aimed at long time experienced fans of the series- which, finally, should give some relief to long term Pokemon fans who were worried about ongoing casualization of the franchise.

Pokemon will launch in 2019 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch; meanwhile Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu and Let’s GO Eevee will be launching on the Switch on November 16, 2018.