Being the first new generation of core Pokemon RPGs to debut on a home console, Pokemon Sword and Shield are expected to have a larger size and scope than the series has been known for in every way possible, and based on things like the open world Wild Area, it definitely seems like that is going to be the case.
But it’s not just in terms of content and tech that Pokemon Sword and Shield is looking to step things up for the series. While Pokemon games, owing to their very nature, have generally not been the largest of productions, when it comes to Sword and Shield, Game Freak had a sizeable work force involved with the game’s production and marketing.
In its newest issue, Game Informer revealed (via Nintendo Everything) that as per Pokemon Sword and Shield director Shigeru Ohmori (who also directed Pokemon Sun and Moon on the 3DS), the core development team working on the RPG duo has doubled in size as compared to Sun and Moon. Combined with all the outsourced work, localization in nine languages, as well as a large marketing team, Pokemon Sword and Shield’s credits will mention roughly a thousand names.
That is indeed a sizeable workforce, and AAA in every sense. It is, in fact, larger than you’d expect for Pokemon, especially when you compare it to something like, say, Death Stranding, which had a core team of just 80 people working on it. We’ll see the fruits of Game Freak’s labour when Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for the Switch on November 15.