I don’t think that mass production is doing it alone, but that it’s a factor. It’s what prevents GameFreak from changing the core gameplay of the game; and without meaningful changes to core gameplay, they need to attract players through other ways.
And one of those ways is making the mons of a newer gen stronger than the ones of the gen before. (Another is introducing “gimmick mechanics” that get forgotten in the next gen.)
@lvxferre Define meaningful changes to core gameplay and Gamefreak doesn’t seem to have perverse monetary incentives to power creep so I’m just guessing a more benign creative block here rather than willful. I don’t think people buy Pokemon games for the competitive esports aspects anyway even though I see a lot of changes in later gens clearly geared towards VGC gameplay.
I don’t think that mass production is doing it alone, but that it’s a factor. It’s what prevents GameFreak from changing the core gameplay of the game; and without meaningful changes to core gameplay, they need to attract players through other ways.
And one of those ways is making the mons of a newer gen stronger than the ones of the gen before. (Another is introducing “gimmick mechanics” that get forgotten in the next gen.)
@lvxferre Define meaningful changes to core gameplay and Gamefreak doesn’t seem to have perverse monetary incentives to power creep so I’m just guessing a more benign creative block here rather than willful. I don’t think people buy Pokemon games for the competitive esports aspects anyway even though I see a lot of changes in later gens clearly geared towards VGC gameplay.