Why Game Freak should consider a Pokemon MMO in near future

Pokemon is a massive role-playing game revolving around exploring vast regions, collecting creatures, and battling against other trainers. At its core, the gameplay heavily involves interacting with other trainers, whether it be other players or in-game NPCs. Many fans also believe that this format would translate well into a massive multiplayer online game.

With the franchise being in its biggest era of experimentation, the prospect of a Pokemon MMO is more realistic than many fans of the franchise would initially expect. If the title receives a proper platform to support the servers required for such a game, it has the potential to be one of the best of its genre.

Note: This article is subjective and based on the author's opinions.

How would a Pokemon MMO work?

Some players would want a hypothetical Pokemon MMO to include every region from the main series (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The first thing many players would question about a hypothetical MMO for the franchise would be where it takes place. Many players would want to play through each of the regions from the main series games. However, if Game Freak developed such a title, it would likely take place in a completely new region.

Starter Pokemon would be an interesting detail to see in this game, as every player getting the choice of the same three starters would make early-game player interactions incredibly stale. Instead, the game should feature a choice between all of the starters from the franchise's history, as well as some other side-choices like Pikachu, Eevee, and Togepi.

The game could also feature raid content like what is seen in Sword and Shield, as well as Scarlet and Violet. These raids would most likely be tied to whatever gimmick the hypothetical MMO will come with, given Game Freak's reputation of introducing a new battle gimmick with most of their Pokemon titles.

The plot of the game would also be fairly loose, similar to Scarlet and Violet. Being an MMO, the game will have to be open-world, meaning the plot will most likely be delegated to a series of quests.

Issues that could come with a Pokemon MMO

It is more than likely that this hypothetical MMO would launch with some issues (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The biggest issue with an online game on a Nintendo console is the paid online service required to play video games online. This service is notoriously laggy and unreliable for real-time gameplay, so the hypothetical title would most likely be a flop if it launched on the Nintendo Switch. However, given how protective Nintendo is with their properties, it is unlikely that Game Freak would be able to develop a game for another platform.

Given the success of Pokemon Unite, there is also the chance that the MMO would be a free-to-play title filled with microtransactions. With the potential scale of the map and the popularity of the brand, the title may even be subscription-based like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14. However, this is all mere speculation, as an MMO for the franchise has yet to be officially announced.

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Edited by Srijan Sen