>>55078333Takato Utsunomiya outright said it over the last few months in a roundtable comic expo type interview.
The facts of the matter is Nintendo and Game Freak had long come to an agreement for yearly releases (or near as) and new Gens every three years since it first took off and Nintendo started badgering for Pokémon 2 only to be bluffed with Blue and Special Pikachu Edition. At this stage, TPC expects a new game to promote each year, Nintendo expect a new game to sell every year and Game Freak expect to start a new project each year, to keep the entire production line of selling Pokémon to kids rolling. When covid killed EVERY major game release that wasn't already about to get released, Game Freak were able to keep to their timeframe, never missing a beat or skipping a step. they need to be continuously planning their next move, because if they stop the whole thing's fucked. This was never a TPC thing. It was going on from the outset.
