It's Time To Temper Expectations For Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Imagine a scenario where you are at work and are assigned a job. The job specifics are not important, but your successful completion of this job is integral to the smooth operation of multiple other facets of the business and if you mess up it could negatively impact multiple other departments. You complete the job but the client is pretty vocal about the fact that it's definitely not up to industry standards. Upon internal review, your company decides that for your next project you will be given extra time to really develop your ideas since that was a major contributing factor to the issues with the previous project.

So after a year you reveal your new project and then work on it in silence, revealing nothing about it publicly. After another year, you show off some of what you've been working on, announce the date it will be released, and then say in a few months you'll do a deeper dive on it. That day comes and you spend about two-thirds to three-quarters of the presentation talking about literally anything else that is tangentially related.

I realize the analogy kind of falls apart at the end but that's basically the situation The Pokemon Company International found itself in this morning when it ran the second Pokemon Presents of the year. This one was announced a few months back during either the Switch or Switch 2 Direct at the end of the segment talking about Pokemon Legends: Z-A and was specifically marketed as a direct to further explain this game the same way Nintendo has done deep dives specifically about Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World in the last few months. It felt so obvious that I didn't do my usual over-the-top bombastic predictions for this because it felt like a waste of time. They're going to talk about Legends: Z-A.

Except they didn't. Well, they revealed Mega Dragonite and the fact that there are "Rogue Mega Battles," but there was nothing substantial. Let's compare this to the August 2021 presentation before Legends: Arceus came out. That presentation showed multiple new Pokemon, multiple new gameplay elements, explained how crafting would work, and gave a massive overview of the world. Keep in mind, this direct also had to split time with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which was also releasing imminently.

I can't think of a charitable explanation as to why TPCi would take the steps they have with this game up until this point. They announced the game, went a full calendar year without acknowledging it, slated it for release as a bridge title on the Switch and Switch 2, slated it for a mid-October release, announced new gameplay features, and then just under-promoted it. The October release almost makes me think the plan was to kind of bury the release under the monolith of GTA VI, which has since been pushed into 2026.

It's unlikely we get another direct specifically for Legends: Z-A before the release so this will probably be the last major look we get at the game. The fact of the matter is that we are under three months out from release and I still have multiple key questions:

1. What kind of biome diversity will exist within Lumiose City to make up for the fact that apparently the rest of Kalos will not be in the game?
2. How do we factor in legends to this game?
3. Is crafting back and if so why?
4. Are the starters getting regional variants?
5. Will there be any regional variants in this game?
6. What's the benefit to the battle ranking system? What does the player get from it?
7. Are riding pokemon back?
8. Will this game have DLC support like Scarlet and Violet or a one-time update like Legends: Arceus?

And all of that said, what comes next? 2026 is the 30th anniversary, and we have zero indication of anything that is happening. I'm not saying they need to release a full roadmap or tell us every single thing in the game but considering the totality of the circumstances, they really should be doing more to show they have learned from their mistakes.