Once again I repeat that they are on too short of a schedule for too little manpower. 250 employees split into two teams working on two seperate projects at the same time to keep with the release schedule is not the greatest process.
In my opinion, the entire place needs a complete restructure from top to bottom. The model can keep going, of course it can, but it'll lead to neither a good work environment nor to truly good games.
The studio's revamped Pocket Card Jockey just released for Apple Arcade.
www.axios.com
This interview came out the other day and one of the highlights is that they believe it is important for GF to continue making and releasing non-Pokemon title games.
And I'm like "dude, you can barely even keep up with the current Pokemon schedule. How are you supposed to make other games on top of that?".
The other ones are that they're trying out things with external studios because game development resources have grown once more reaffirming that they're on a yearly game schedule and that they're having more trouble since the games again, require more resources, and are increasingly graphically complex (lol).
So, okay, cool, they're realizing they can't keep up and that they need more, but you wonder, are they truly doing enough? They even admit the yearly schedule is definitively a thing. You go look at other yearly franchises and they have at minimum triple the number of people GF does and like one or two other extra studios too.
I looked at the other ILCA games once and I couldn't help but think "are these really the same people who made BDSP? Why do all those other games look like that while BDSP looks like this? Why was only BDSP absolutely completely broken on release?"
We're a decade into the 3D games. How is it that they just realizing just now that 3D games development is more resource intensive? That a small indie studio please understand team divided in two is not enough?
And even that becomes meaningless if when you are already on a horrible yearly schedule you then also split your already small team even more to work on other games. Other games that are most certainly guaranteed to bomb. That just causes more workload on everyone for practically zero reward. I mean, look at Town. Absolutely no one cared about it. And not even just because it was not Pokemon but because it was a horribly mediocre game too.
In a way though, it's kinda sad. You can definitively tell that GF somewhat resents being the "Pokemon studio" and wants to break out of that but they just cannot and will never be able to. GF games sell because they're Pokemon, not because they're made by GF. It's a sad reality for them.
Mediocre devs, horrible development schedule, unmotivated and unhappy workers because of what they're working on and the horrible schedule.
It's a recipe for disaster.
Like, sure, you'll buy it anyway and all. Why change anything when the newest release is now the 4th best selling generation and about to top the previous generation liketime sales in not even half a year?
But like is there seriously not a single person with power there that looks at all that and realizes things are ****ed up at a core level even if the games are selling gorillions and they should try to change them or fix them? I know it's a business and all first and foremost but still...
The whole thing is a mess there.