Masuda’s attitude has become a problem for going forward. He’s mentioned in interviews how he prefers to work with a smaller team because there’s less room for miscommunication— dude, that’s not so much a team size problem as it is a leadership problem; what the hell are you doing if you can’t make sure everyone working under you is on the same page? When you notice there’s miscommunication, you figure out where the problem started, fix it, make sure your new method of communication doesn’t fall into the same pitfalls. Also, learn to fucking delegate.
He's also commented on how “kids these days” don’t want difficult games, or don’t care for playing games too long— that the current mindset is to finish a game quickly and move on to the next right away; they’ve compared it to how mobile games are treated. This is a dangerous way for a game developer to think these days, especially if your target demographic is children— you really shouldn’t underestimate kids, especially the more generations you have between you. Kids differentiate mobile games as fast, flashy and can be dropped whenever you don’t feel like it; console games are a bigger deal, with more expectations attached, and are more of a status symbol between peers. Also, it’s fucking stupid to dumb things down so much and then use the kids walking away as proof of your theory—they dropped the game because it was shit, because you didn’t challenge them enough and they were done with it in less than a week; do that often enough, and your franchise will become synonymous with easy games— games for babies no kid will want to associate with.
They really need to make games that grow with the generations playing them while maintaining a family-friendly atmosphere. Adults will enjoy the challenge and kids will strive to be better; those who can beat the games will befriend those who can’t and it’ll create a strong community. That’s what Pokémon was, not long ago, and it’s heartbreaking that it’s being lost so quickly.