Leaked documents detail why Junichi Masuda is no longer directing Pokemon games
As more information comes online through a previous Game Freak hack, we now have insight into some behind-the-scenes happenings at the studio, including why Junichi Masuda is no longer directing Pokemon games.
You may recall that in 2018, Masuda indicated he was pretty much done with the role following Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee. That has largely been the case – with Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as exceptions.
Game Freak documents reveal the following details:
– Referred as “the era of Masuda’s absolute dominance”
– Masuda alone handled development planning, personnel decisions, public relations, and game design
– Up through Black & White, it was an era where no one could oppose him
– However, this led to a concentration of power and the organization began to run out of control
– In personnel matters, “unnecessary people” and “favorites” emerged
– The games’ content shifted from being focused on fun to being driven by PR
– They could no longer do proper game design
– Various problems arose, and during the development of X/Y, Masuda got into an argument with Sugimori, resulting in a decision that he would no longer be allowed to direct from then on
Shigeru Ohmori has mostly acted as director on the big Pokemon games in recent years. However, other Game Freak documents suggest that he could be moving on from that role as well.
Those details are as follows:
– The documents mention that he basically inherited the same structure of power that Masuda had with no real changes to the structure
– “Mr. Ohmori is still serving as both Division Chief 2 and Director. If this continues, it will lead to the centralization of authority, and the organization could run out of control”
– On 2024, the documents now confirm that Ohmori is the “former” director of Division 2
There have been a massive amount of Pokemon leaks as of late. We have details about upcoming Pokemon games here and here as well as a scrapped Pokemon Legends release with Ho-Oh and Lugia here.
