Back in 2016 there were numerous rumors that Pokémon Z was going to be the next game of the Pokémon series released by Nintendo. With the debut of the Pokémon X Y & Z animated series, it seemed like a sure thing that Pokémon Z will be released soon after. However, February 27th 2016, which was the Pokémon Day, didn’t bring any announcements related to Z, but instead, Nintendo revealed plans for Sun and Moon, a game that would initiate a new generation of Pokémon games. That left a large group of fans in a state of shock, and whose questions as to why Pokémon Z was omitted remain unanswered up to this day.
Since Generation VII received many highly favorable reviews, this somehow silenced most of the fans. Still, Nintendo has not made any comments regarding the surprising omission of the last part of the X & Y trilogy. As many different explanations have been proposed by fans, we decided to choose only three of them, those that, in our opinion, make the most sense.
- According to some, Nintendo wanted to use Pokémon Z as a bait for the fans, who would be more likely to purchase a new handheld launched by the Japanese company, in case the highly anticipated game would be released simultaneously for the same device. Such move would greatly increase a good start and the potential success of the new device.
- Nintendo’s decision to skip Pokémon Z was made in order to maximize the earnings of the company, as new game series or generations tend to generate more hype, which is then followed by increased sales.
- Since the game might have featured a France-inspired setting, after the Paris attacks of November 2015 a decision could have been made to abandon the plans for Pokémon Z in order to avoid any unnecessary controversy.
Any of the three above mentioned explanations could be the real reason as to why Pokémon Z was never published. There is a great chance that we will never know the answer.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
