Pokemon Should 'Inject a Little More Money' into the Series, Says Ex-Nintendo Marketing Leads

Pokemon Legends: ZA is finally here, which means we have another round of discussion to get through. Every time a major Pokémon game is released, there's usually talk about how the series is underfunded and how the games feel half-baked, despite how much they bring in. It's an understandable complaint, as Pokemon Legends: ZA is filled with flat balconies, disgusting foliage, and barely any voice acting to be heard.

It's incredibly rare for the biggest media franchise in the world to have a game that feels so cheap, and if the recent Pokémon giga leaks are accurate, that could be down to the game's rather small budget. Earlier this week, it was claimed that Pokemon Legends: ZA had a budget of just $13 million, which sounds like a lot, but is pitiful considering that blockbuster games from other platform holders like PlayStation and Xbox tend to be in the hundreds of millions.

Pokemon Should 'Inject a Little More Money' into the Series, Says Ex-Nintendo Marketing Leads

With that kind of information out there, whether it's accurate or not, the discussion surrounding Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's constant underfunding of its prize pool has been rampant. Even ex-Nintendo marketing execs Krysta Yang and Kit Ellis are puzzled by the strategy, saying in their latest video (thanks GamesRadar) that Nintendo should probably “inject a little more money” into things they know are guaranteed to make money.

“I really don't understand the strategy that some business person over there came up with, because you have a sure thing … it sells over and over again,” Yang says. “It's never had a problem with sales, so why not invest a little more?… Just so you don't have crappy trees and windows.”

It's a fair point, and when you have games like Digimon Story: Time Stranger coming and doing what Pokémon does but with a much higher quality (at least from an aesthetic point of view), you have to believe that Nintendo can't keep betting on Pokémon bringing in the big bucks forever with as little investment as possible. You'd like to hope that Pokemon Wind & Waves (the supposed name of Gen 10) will raise the quality a bit more, but recent history has probably set us up for more disappointment.