I’m done with Pokémon.

I'm not going to stay quiet on this, and I'm not going to just let it slide. It's bad enough that The Pokémon Company released Legends ZA with such an abysmal level of production quality. But it's even worse that fans keep letting them get away with this. It's especially a serious problem because it feels like the behaviour of TPC keeps getting worse, thus y'all are allowing an evil corporation to get away from ripping people off en masse.

If that wasn't bad enough, the game is already locking key content behind $30 DLC as well as locking the Kalos Mega Evolutions behind the online pass. Why? Because the mass complacency of the fanbase lets them get away with it.

Scarlet and Violet released in an absolutely abysmal state, yet instead of actually trying to optimize and fix the game; TPC put all their efforts into the DLC. Why? Because they knew their fanbase would allow them to get away with it. And to add further insult to injury; the DLC ran worse than the main game.

Perhaps even more insulting about the quality of the games, was the recent reveal of how little money The Pokemon Company actually puts into the game's budgets. We're talking $16.4 million for Sword/Shield, $14.4 million for Legends: Arceus, $21.8 million for Scarlet/Violet and $13 million for Legends ZA.

On top of that, it seemed that Pokemon Legends ZA know the game was going to get backlash, so instead of putting more budget into the game itself. They put it into marketing. Just a few weeks ago; The Pokemon Company gave thousands of Social Media influencers all over the world an All Expenses Paid trip to Paris, France to play an early version of ZA atop the Eiffel Tower. This is a popular type of marketing scheme based of 'Review Events and Boot Camps' from over a decade ago. A means to give positive psychological manipulation to reviewers by lavishing them in gifts and premium quality experiences in order to lure them into believing the quality is greater than what it actually is. More often than not however; it also left reviewers with a sense of quid pro quo, where they're guilt tripped into thinking they have to give a positive review because they were spoilt by the publisher. (Also as a side note since I know this is the internet, please do not go harassing any influencer that attended this event.)

But perhaps the worst part of this complacency with Pokémon; is that they've been using their massive wealth to bully potential competitors with lawsuits and abuse the US Patent office, to restrict other companies from using similar gameplay mechanics in their games. Something that is absolutely bad for gaming in general.

To top it all off: This is not some low key kids series, or startup small studio. This is THE most profitable franchise in the world. Not just gaming franchise, I mean entertainment franchises as a whole. It's more profitable than Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, the MCU, Looney Tunes. You name it. So there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever that the quality of their titles should be this poor.

That's why I'm going to tell you this right now: It's not enough to say you're boycotting Pokémon. You need to let your voices be known to others who try to defend this inexcusable behaviour. Because this absolutely cannot be allowed to continue at its current pace. Especially considering the bullying of smaller competitors.

If you do need a new monster tamer fix. You can check out this Indie Presentation showcasing dozens of games that have Monster Taming elements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe0pgU-LvDM