About a third of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield’s 300+ person core team contributed to other projects during its development, analysis of the game’s credits reveals.
It’s not unusual for developers at large studios to work on multiple titles as their requirements fluctuate, butPokémonstudioGame Freakhas had to balance more projects than usual in recent years.
In the 12 month period up to November 2019, the developer released three games – four if you count the console version ofGiga Wrecker– which represents the busiest period in its 30-year history.
And in that time it managed to release two ambitious Switch RPGs, with analysis revealing it shared a significant portion of its staff across the projects to do so.
The studio has also recentlyplaced particular emphasis on using original titles to train its staff, in theory improving its Pokémon games with the experience gained.
According to Game Freak, Sword and Shield went into full production in late 2017, after which it worked on at least three additional titles.
The Pokémon Company– whose stakeholders are made up of Game Freak, Creatures Inc andNintendo– released both Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee and Pokémon Quest in 2018.
Game Freak also releasedoriginal IP Little Town Heroin October 2019, a month before Sword and Shield.
Based on analysis of Sword and Shield’s staff credits, a small number of developers (less than 20) worked on the smaller Pokémon Quest and Little Town Hero projects.
However, over 100 people worked on November 2018 release Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, including leads in programming, character design, special effects, UI and more. That number represents around a third of Sword and Shield’s development team, and half of Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee’s.
Of particular significance, considering the attention surroundingSword and Shield’s reuse of character models, is confirmation that almost half of the game’s character modellers also worked on Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, including that game’s lead character modeller Sakiko Maeda.
This will come as little surprise to fans, as the series’ 3D creature modelling is typically handled externally by Creatures Inc and the models appear to be shared across titles.
Of some 140 artists who worked on Pokémon Sword and Shield, more than a third worked on other projects during the game’s development.
More than 25 external companies are listed as having worked on theNintendo Switchtitles.
It’s worth noting that VGC’s figures include producer, engine and audio roles, which typically span multiple projects simultaneously.
In recent yearsGame Freak has pushed its Gear Project initiative, which it says encourages creators to pitch original game ideas during quiet periods.
So far Gear Project has resulted in HarmoKnight, Pocket Card Jockey, Tembo the Badass Elephant, Giga Wrecker and Little Town Hero, all of which released after 2012. With its roots firmly planted in 2D games, Gear Project is also seen as a test bed for Game Freak’s 3D game aspirations.
Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield reviewswent live ahead of the Switch title’s November 15 release date.
Pokémon Sword and Shield core team credits
(* = Listed in Let’s Go credits / ** = Listed in Pokémon Quest credits / *** = Listed in Little Town Hero credits)
