LogInSimultaneously, it was revealed that the game may have cost as little as $13 million to develop.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A was finally released last week, mirroring Scarlet and Violet in its reception in a way that, while gaming journalists gave it average-to-positive scores, the gaming community was far less forgiving and lenient, placing the latest Pokémon installment in the "red," below-average zone over on Metacritic.
Nintendo
As of this writing, the game's user score on the largest review aggregation website stands at 4.6 for Nintendo Switch 2, ranking lower than both parts of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet's The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. On the original Switch, the situation is even worse, with a score of 3.6 – below Pokémon Violet's 4.1 but slightly above Pokémon Scarlet's 3.5.
Players cited several reasons for the new title receiving Generally Unfavorable ratings, including, but not limited to, the game's graphics, which many described as "outdated," a small playable map filled with non-interactable buildings that "look like boxes with PNG textures on them," a weak storyline and dialogue resembling something "generated by AI," repetitive side missions, uninspiring animations and combat (though it must be mentioned that when it comes to combat, many also viewed it as the game's "only redeeming quality"), poor character models, and its $70 AAA price tag.
At the same time the game was being hit with negative reviews, a video from former Nintendo of America employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang has been making the rounds online, suggesting that, unlike almost every other video game studio, Nintendo and Game Freak simply cannot be shown the errors of their ways through the title's financial underperformance.
Discussing the recent Pokémon leak, the duo mentioned that Pokémon Legends: Z-A's development budget – just development, without marketing – may have been as little as $13 million, an extremely small sum compared not only to other games with a AAA price tag, but even to some of the AA titles out there.
While the source of this figure is questionable and shouldn't be taken as a confirmation of any sort, if accurate, it would mean Pokémon Legends: Z-A only needed to sell fewer than 200,000 units to recoup its development costs, and given that the aforementioned Scarlet and Violet sold over 10 million copies in just three days after release and more than 27 million overall – not to mention that it's the Pokémon series we're talking about – it's safe to say Z-A probably hit that 200K mark within minutes of launch.
And what about you? Have you tried Pokémon Legends: Z-A yet? What's your opinion about it? Let us know down in the comments below!
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