Was Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Rushed? Absolutely.
As a long-time Pokémon fan and gaming industry analyst, I believe Game Freak clearly rushed core parts of Scarlet and Violet’s development in favor of scope over polish. While the games retain the fundamental joy of Pokémon, their technical shortcomings and unfinished feel reveal the pitfalls of hastened production schedules placed on ambitious titles.
Shortest Development Cycle in Years
Scarlet and Violet had the shortest development timeframe of any main series Pokémon game this past decade besides the Gen 8 sequels.
| Game | Years in Development |
|---|---|
| X and Y | 4 years |
| Sun and Moon | 3.5 years |
| Sword and Shield | 3 years |
| Scarlet and Violet | 3 years |
| Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl | 2 years |
With a massive new open world structure plus over 100 new Pokémon to design, Game Freak gave themselves little time to optimize and polish.
Declining Review Scores
Scarlet and Violet has the second lowest critical reception of any mainline Pokémon game, only beating Sword and Shield‘s original scores.
| Game | Metacritic Score |
|---|---|
| Diamond and Pearl | 85 |
| Black and White | 87 |
| X and Y | 87 |
| Sun and Moon | 87 |
| Sword and Shield | 80 |
| Scarlet and Violet | 75 |
Reviewers widely criticized performance issues, visual problems, and lack of technical polish. Fans echoed similar complaints regarding stability.
Weak Launch Sales and Drop-Off
Despite some record pre-order numbers, Scarlet and Violet had lower Japanese first week sales than recent Pokémon games, selling 3.45 million units compared to Sword and Shield’s 4 million.
Moreover, Scarlet and Violet saw the sharpest ever second week sales decline for a Pokémon game in Japan – plummeting 74% after launch week heights. This indicates short-term player drop off likely due to optimiziation issues.
Crunch and Developer Stress
Kotaku reported that Scarlet and Violet developers suffered through periods of intense crunchleading up to launch. One animator described the brutal workload:
“For much of a two-year period I worked three days each week from morning until past midnight.”
This culture of overwork demonstrates unrealistic demands placed on the team. Features clearly remained unfinished by release.
Quality vs Quantity Issues
Scarlet and Violet’s 104 new Pokémon seems an ambitious addition on paper. Yet fans complained about unimaginative designs among the new creatures compared to previous generations.
Many new Pokémon lack unique type combinations – falling back on common dual types like Grass/Dark. Only Paradox forms shake up standard recipes. This hints that Game Freak generated lots of Pokémon statistically without delivering the usual conceptual creativity.
Mixed Fan Reception
The Pokémon community expressed divided opinions on Scarlet and Violet initially. Though some welcomed the fresh open world approach, long-time fans felt unhappy about glitches derailing the adventure.
Early Metacritic user scores averaged around a 5/10 – the lowest user rating for any main series Pokémon game besides Sw/Sh. Reviews referenced "soulless characters, terrible pop-in, myriad glitches…" and more.
Ongoing Updates and Patches
To their credit, Game Freak keeps working to improve Scarlet and Violet. The major February 2023 Version 1.2 update resolved over 100 bugs – though some problems still persist.
| Date | Patch | Major Fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2022 | Version 1.1.0 | Fixed 30 bugs |
| Feb 27, 2023 | Version 1.2.0 | Fixed 100+ bugs, increased walk/run speeds, improved Pokémon visibility distance |
Hopefully further updates will smooth out remaining issues – but the games feel like public beta tests rather than finished products for now.
The Need for More Development Time
Game Freak made an ambitious push into open world Pokémon games but underestimated the effort to realize their vision properly in only three years. ThoughDefaults rooted in franchise tradition endured, lack of technical polish undermined the experience.
Had the developers given themselves even six more months to optimize performance and gameplay pacing pre-release, Scarlet and Violet could have avoided much fan criticism about feeling rushed or unfinished.
Conclusion
In the end, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were absolutely rushed games that tried accomplishing too much given their truncated development timeline. Game Freak must learn from this experience that even franchise juggernauts need reasonable schedules to perfect increasingly complex games. Otherwise, their visions of innovative mechanics and giant worlds will never reach their full potential. Fans expect and deserve better from such an iconic series.
