COO of The Pokémon Company Takato Utsunomiya said that his job is to ensure that there are hundreds more years of Pokémon in a recent interview. The franchise is already over a quarter of a century old and it would seem that there’s no retirement date in sight for Pikachu and his pals.
If you’re an avid Pokémon fan, you’ll recognize Utsunomiya as the face of Pokémon Direct and responsible for delivering us all of the newest exciting stuff from the franchise. According to his recent interview with The Guardian, his job is to “spend all day every day thinking about Pokémon” and “to keep Pokémon alive for hundreds of years – making sure it survives well past our lifetimes.”
He explains that while relying on the nostalgia factor of the original 151 works for adult Pokémon fans, it’s harder to get children invested in the franchise in the same way. He said, “Kids are very honest – they won’t play something they don’t like. If your brand feels old or boring, they will immediately dismiss it.” You can proclaim that gen 1 Pokémon are the peak of monster design all you want, but Game Freak isn’t going to stop making new ‘mons for us to collect.
Utsunomiya also touched on the core role that the Pokémon videogames play in the franchise and how the teams “really try to treat them like living creatures”. He said that, while they might not be regarded as the best Pokémon games by all, Legends: Arceus and Scarlet & Violet begin to bridge the “gap between the descriptions in the Pokédex and what you actually saw in the game.” Could this mean that more immersive, open-world adventures are on the horizon?
Well, there you have it – looks like Pokémon plans to stick around for hundreds of years. To make sure you don’t fall behind, why not check out our guide to all the Pokémon games in order? We’ve also got great lists of the best flower Pokémon, monkey Pokémon, fish Pokémon, dark Pokémon, and electric Pokémon, to name a few.