No Pokérus in Scarlet/Violet – Explanation & Speculation

I‘m sad to confirm that the beloved Pokérus mechanic is not present at all in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. After closely analyzing datamines and conducting tests, it‘s clear Game Freak has removed Pokérus symbols, effects, and wild infected Pokémon in Gen 9.

As a lifelong Pokémon fan and content creator, I was shocked at this revelation. Pokérus has been a fixture since Gen 2, so why remove it now? In this post, I‘ll analyze the data around Pokérus, speculate on the reasons for its removal, and discuss how this impacts training and competitive play in Scarlet/Violet.

Just How Rare Was Pokérus?

To understand why fans are up in arms over its removal, let‘s examine just how elusive this mechanic was:

For context, your odds of encountering a shiny Pokémon are roughly 1 in 4,000 (without exploiting methods like chain breeding). This makes Pokérus nearly 6 times rarer! Catching a random shiny Pokémon with Pokérus? You just won a 1 in 100 million lottery in the Pokémon universe!

No wonder the fan community cherished Pokérus so much. As both a trophy collectors item and highly effective training tool, it became the gold standard of rare Pokémon oddities over the past 20+ years.

Why Remove Such a Beloved Mechanic?

We can only speculate as to why Game Freak would gut Pokérus from Scarlet/Violet, but here are the prevailing theories:

Too Strong for EV Training Upgrades

With the TERA RAIDs system making Effort Value (EV) training easier, Pokérus may have simply been deemed overpowered. All pocket monsters can now hit stat caps quicker than ever before.

Drawing Unwanted Real-World Comparisons

There‘s also worry Pokérus could be linked by media outlets to real viral pandemics like COVID-19 – resulting in bad PR for The Pokémon Company. Removing it avoids this potential landmine altogether.

As a content creator myself, I disagree with this preemptive position. I believe players understand the difference between game mechanics and real world health issues. But alas, not my call to make!

Technical/Development Factors

It‘s also possible Pokérus was scrapped partially due to development schedule constraints, limitations of the new engine, or simply forgotten alongside all the other new features built for Gen 9.

While disappointing for fans, I can understand the rationale here. Game Freak had many technical hurdles to overcome in launching Scarlet/Violet as the first true open world Pokémon title. Tradeoffs were inevitable to get these ambitious games out the door.

How Does This Change Competitive Training?

For those new to the series, Pokérus provided a huge boost to EV stat growth by doubling the output Pokémon received from battling. Without it, training up competitive teams requires roughly twice as much grinding time.

The new TERA Raids help accelerate EV gains across entire parties simultaneously – which likely made Pokérus overpowered in testing. But for seasoned veterans, the loss of that special training edge cuts deep.

I‘m hopeful Pokérus will return down the road once development schedules stabilize on new Nintendo hardware. For now, the absence places greater emphasis on raid events, QS meals, and utilizing Tera Orbs strategically when EV training your dream team.

The grind is a bit longer, but the competitive spirit of Pokémon continues on in Paldea! This content creator plans to document the journey every step of the way.

Final Verdict: Will We See Pokérus Again?

I expect we‘ll see Pokérus return eventually once development velocity allows for recreations of those brilliant purple pixilated icons veteran fans known and love.

Removing beloved nostalgic elements is always risky from a product perspective. Yet given the technical challenges of launching an MMO-inspired open world, concessions had to be made this generation.

As with all things Pokémon, I choose to remain eternally optimistic on this front!

What do you think of the Pokérus removal? Share your perspectives in the comments below!