The recent Pokemon leak has not been good for Game Freak with details emerging about a range of topics and even games that the developer has in the pipeline. One document posted on X reveals why Junichi Masuda is no longer directing Pokemon games. Junichi Masuda said back in 2018 that he was stepping back from a directorial role in the games and now documents published online reveal the full extent of things. Here’s what’s been translated by Centro LEAKS:
- 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
