The upcomingPokemon Presentswill have 14 minutes of new information, and for a lot of fans this is big news even thoughPokemonjust releasedLegends: Arceusand the Gen 4 remakesBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl. Both of these games have been successful, and while they’ve brought newPokemoncontent to the Switch, they haven’t focused on new regions.
This has left many fans hopeful that the different Nintendo-related announcements happening early in 2022 will include the reveal ofPokemon’s ninth generation. This would introduce a new region forPokemonfans to explore as well as new Pokemon and likely even some regional variants. News of Gen 9 was absent fromthe February 2022 Nintendo Directwhich has turned a lot of attention to tomorrow’s Pokemon Presents. However, as hopeful as many people are, they should be prepared for there to be no news about Gen 9.
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Potential of The February 2022 Pokemon Presents
The length of the Pokemon Presents is expected to be about 14 minutes, which isn’t too substantial. There has been talk ofrumored DLC forPokemon Legends: Arceus, and if it proves to be true then fans could be looking at a showcase focused on this alongside some smaller topics. In this case, 14 minutes would be a perfect amount of time, but it also means that there won’t be a lot of space for a major new announcement.
The lack of fanfare surrounding this event also suggests that it might not come with something as major a reveal as a new generation. TheFebruary 24 announcement of the Pokemon Presentsonly gives a couple of days for the hype to build, and while a Nintendo Direct earlier this month delivered a lot of news without much of a heads-up, a short Pokemon Presents doesn’t seem as promising.
This doesn’t have to mean there won’t be any other big news. DLC forPokemon Legends: Arceuswould likely be well received by players, and it’s aperfect time forPokemon Hometo offer more featuresconsidering impending 3DS shutdowns. Fleshing out smaller stuff like this while revealing DLC forPokemon’s newest game would be a solid plan, and an approach that doesn’t reveal too much very early in the year.PokemonGen 9 may not even release in 2022, which means the Pokemon Presents could serve as a precursor with a Gen 9 reveal later in the year - perhaps around E3.
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A New Generation of Pokemon Games
The possibility of aPokemonGen 9 reveal at the Pokemon Presents isn’t completely off the table. There have been newPokemonannouncements all week in celebration of Pokemon Day, and the Pokemon Presents will be a part of the closer on Pokemon Day. Given the significance of Pokemon Day to both the brand and fans, this leaves the door open for a major reveal. This could be a lot of different things, but the most likely to draw in every fan of the series is the reveal of Gen 9.
Players have been brainstorming about what region will be focused on next, with some finding evidence that points towardan Indian region forPokemonGen 9, for example. There’s bound to be some great reveals if this is true, and given the amount of time sincePokemon SwordandShieldwas released it feels like it’s time for Gen 9 to be announced.
Pokemon, and many other Nintendo games, are good at following patterns. ForPokemongames, this means having a new generation of games release every three-to-four years. DespitePokemon SwordandShieldgetting special max raid battlesfor Pokemon Day and its continued support, it has been almost three years since the Gen 8 games were released.Pokemonis quickly coming up on its longest amount of time since the release of a new generation of games, particularly prominent for the modern era.
Announcing a new generation at tomorrow’s Pokemon Presents would keep the pattern intact. An announcement could result inthe newPokemonGen 9releasing sometime later in the year like many of its more recent games, but a 2023 release date is more reasonable. Waiting until late 2023 for a newPokemongame could mean that tomorrow’s Pokemon Presents won’t be when the Gen 9 reveal happens, as this could create too much of a gap between the announcement and release date.
It’s important to keep development time frames in mind. A lot has happened in the past couple of years that likely delayed work on Gen 9, and while a reveal at the Pokemon Presents tomorrow would be great, it’s still unlikely. Tomorrow’sPokemon Presentswill likely be focusing on future support forPokemon Legends: Arceus,Pokemon SwordandShield, as well asPokemon GO.
