A New Pokémon "Wave"

I also have to say that within a span of one week, there has been and will be a lot of great news about Pokémon, a "wave" of sorts. That started on Wednesday morning with a special live stream of a "Pokémon Business Strategy Presentation" that detailed a few new paths for this franchise. That also includes a handful of new games that set out to take advantage of its power, popularity, and prestige.

The first is a new game entitled Pokémon Sleep, for modern mobile devices and due out next year. It's billed as the "inverse" of Pokémon Go: whereas the latter promotes health through walking, the former promotes health through sleeping. Fundamentally, the game will play out through data of the player's sleeping habits. This will work in conjunction with a new peripheral called Pokémon Go Plus + (yes, it's the actual name), which can be used for both Pokémon Go and this revolutionary game. It is indeed that, as with this game, Pokémon has pervaded into yet another crucial part of any person's lifestyle.

The second is Pokémon Masters, also for mobile, but due out this year. The game will feature the "best of the best" Trainer characters and their Pokémon partners that have appeared over the years in past Pokémon games. The gameplay, as demonstrated by a video preview, appears engaging and enthralling, and is likely to capture nostalgia through its novelty. It is something that any longtime fan of Pokémon (like me) will look forward to playing to the fullest.

The third involves a couple of Pokémon games to be "expanded" in some way. NetEase, a Chinese company, will release and develop Pokémon Quest for the Chinese market, which also explains why the presentation was also trilingual, indicating more future involvement with the Chinese market. The Detective Pikachu game, which became popularized with its movie adaptation, is also to be (re-)released for the Switch; what this will constitute remains to be seen, but it may also be indicative that those who haven't played the game should do so ASAP.

The fourth is not a game, but a service, which is called Pokémon Home. It is dubbed as "a place where all Pokémon gather", in the form of a cloud-based service that allows transfer from Go, LGPE, and Bank, as well as to-and-fro the upcoming Sword and Shield games. This service essentially continues or "futureproofs" transfers, and integrates them as well with possible other outside links. The prospect of this seems to be grand for any Pokémon player with all kinds of Pokémon strewn across different games.

Lastly, the press conference also mentions prospects for a new Pokémon Center in Shibuya after their most recent launch in Singapore (as the flagship Southeast Asian store) that is neo-futuristic in style. The Pokémon Shirts apparel line is also planned for customization and expansion beyond Japan, as also hinted by everyone wearing shirts that have some kind of Pokémon design. Lifestyle-wise, this is neat to know.

These new paths for the franchise are all varied, grand, and aspiring. So it seems for one that is almost nearly two and a half decades in its running. It has to be visionary to move forward. And speaking of moving forward, there will be a Pokémon Direct next week Wednesday, which should complement this presentation nicely with fresh details about the upcoming Sword and Shield games. One can only wonder what's next when these are indeed what's next in the "wave".

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