Parksey wrote:My guess is they don't want to put them on NSO as they want them to remain monetised rather than "free". They sold the GBC games for about £9 on the 3DS eshop.
I think they are quite protective of the IP and also absolutely milk it commercially. If I'm being cynical, they don't really get anything out of putting the GBC games on NSO.
Also weird we have Legends before a Gen V remake. I wouldn't be surprised if they unveil Gen X on Pokémon Day 2026, which will be the series' 30th anniversary.
Which leaves the Gen V remakes in a bit of a weird position - I'd quite like their games to have more time in the often, but they did also release Arceus and the D/P remakes within two months of each other. We may get a Gen V unveiling next February, and have them and Legends in the same year.
I can fully see why they don't want to put them on the apps, we're probably much less likely to get Home support through those than a bought purchase off the eshop as well. Even if they charged £10 for gen 1 and 2 games, £15 for gen 3 games, that'd would still make them a good profit if they spread them out over the course of the year, but even in a year where there is no new Pokemon game on the Switch (the Switch line up is looking dire post Summer as well as far as first party games go as of what we know right now), you'd have thought porting gen 1/2 again and gen 3 for the first would be as close to a gimme as you can get in gaming in the current era, where development costs are increasing year on year. Even if they only sold 2 million of each game, which is likely with a huge install base, they'd make huge profits on games that are ranging from 20-30 years old at this point. I understand they're protective of the IP, but this is actually making people buy the games if they want to play them, not finding a ROM and emulating them for free.
Gen X is definitely going to be the main game in 2026, I still see remakes of gen 5 coming at some point, maybe in 2025 as well if ILCA are working on them, but they're not going to be ready for this year so opted for the more surprising game rather than potentially faithful remakes, again.