Developer and co-owner of the Pokémon Company, Creatures, has posted a job listing for a 3D CG Character Modeler, and as transcribed by Video Games Chronicle, one of the position’s responsibilities includes planning ahead for next-gen consoles. Specifically, the transcription states that part of the role’s workflow includes “research and development for other next-generation hardware.”
Creatures is the oft-forgotten third branch of the entities that make up the Pokémon Company, the other two being the mainline game developers Game Freak, and, of course, Nintendo. Creatures mostly handles the development of the immensely popular Pokémon Trading Card Game, but it also assists Game Freak on the mainline video games by working on 3D Pokémon modeling. Furthermore, it also fully develops Pokémon spinoffs, such as the Detective Pikachu and Pokémon Ranger series.
The Pokémon modeling aspect is most relevant here, as it’s likely Creatures is looking for someone to assist with the modeling work it does for Game Freak. If so, the Pokémon Company may already be looking ahead toward future hardware, in order to efficiently allocate its development resources.
The mainline Pokémon games, and even most of its spinoffs, have almost always found a home in the hand-held space. But with Nintendo shifting its direction to completely supporting their hybrid console, the Switch, Game Freak and Creatures had to quickly adjust to developing for a platform with higher graphical and visual expectations from its players. It was a common complaint among reviewers and critics that Pokémon Sword, Shield, and Legends: Arceus all suffered from subpar graphical fidelity and low production value.
Most recently, publications that previewed the upcoming Scarlet & Violet games stated that the titles suffered from similar issues, as well as severe performance problems. Hopefully, with the Switch being such a monumental success for Nintendo and already having a longer lifespan than the prior Wii U, the Pokémon developers will get a little more time to research Nintendo’s upcoming console, and thus better optimize future Pokémon titles. That is, of course, if Nintendo’s next-gen hardware model is another hybrid console in the first place; it’s not impossible for them to go back to having two separate platforms for each space.
