Incorporating elements from Pokemon GO is quite ground-breaking; it must’ve taken a lot of courage to make that kind of decision.



Masuda: It was a daunting task we took upon ourselves, for sure. There was considerable debate within the team concerning the absence of wild Pokemon battles. Up until this point I had been steadfast in defending the mechanic as the series director; this time, though, I felt like we should try to change things up a bit. Personally, I’ve always felt that the weakening and capturing mechanic is a bit like fishing – there are people that aren’t fans of that kind of strategy, though. To that end – as I mentioned before – I wanted to make these games more enjoyable for a wider audience of fans. As such, we simplified the mechanics. Until now, catching Pokemon has been vaguely reminiscent of fishing, whereas I’d liken the new mechanic to catching bugs with a net. I have to wonder if people will enjoy that sort of straightforward mechanic more so than the previous mechanic