What Went Wrong with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?
Channel: Video Game Story Time
Date: 2022-11-23

Critics and players alike have concluded that, while featuring an enjoyable core gameplay loop, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are plagued with performance issues, muddy textures, and hilarious (and sometimes terrifying) glitches and bugs.

So what went wrong? Why does such an otherwise promising game feature such a noticeable lack of polish? The Pokemon series has come a long way since Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow shipped with game-breaking bugs and glitches, so why are Scarlet and Violet , games with a massive budget and over a hundred playtesters, running into these issues?

The answer, put simply, is: time. Game Freak simply weren't given the time necessary to iron out all the kinks in their new titles, as The Pokemon Company pushed developers such as director Shigeru Ohmori to stick to an aggressive release schedule that doesn't account for the time it actually takes to complete games this big to a higher standard.

Things go deeper than this, though. To a certain extent, Game Freak has chosen to make buggy games, rather than compromise on other parts of the development process. Having been given the choice between making polished but formulaic titles, and trying to innovate with each release at the cost of graphical and technical quality, Game Freak has chosen to focus on good gameplay over stability.

The studio's stubborn refusal to expand beyond a relatively small core team means that the games are filled with good ideas - the kinds of ideas that can only be finessed by a team of people who are completely in unity and share excellent communication - means that Pokemon games have a solid foundation, but there is less time for polish.

Ultimately, it's the belief of the higher-ups at Game Freak that players will excuse some bugs if the game is good, but won't be quite so forgiving if a game looks great but lacks a fundamentally enjoyable experience underneath all the flashy graphics.

Is this true? That's up to you to decide.

Lots of love,
BretonStripes and Kotor

Sources for this video:
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/interviews/2019/10/24/20929597/game-freak-explains-the-1000-staff-missing-creatures-and-leek-size-of-pokemon-sword-and-shield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuDNmKmO2zs 
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/pokemon-scarlet-and-violet-is-the-second-biggest-pokemon-launch-of-all-time-uk-boxed-charts