Pokemon Go's success had no effect on Pokemon Sun's/Moon's feature set

If anything, the director of Sun/Moon said, Go's success will translate to higher-than-usual sales of the mainline titles.

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Pokemon producer Junichi Masuda told Game Informer that he believes Pokemon Go's massive success this summer will boost Pokemon Sun and Moon at retail, although Go's feature set did not directly inform any aspect of Sun and Moon.

Pokemon Sun and Moon will offer deeper experiences than Go, Masuda explained. "Not just catching Pokemon but also raising them and getting into battling," he said (via GameSpot). "Really just being immersed and enjoying the Pokemon universe. In terms of whether Go's success affected Sun & Moon? It didn't affect the development of the game, or any of the features, but I think it's going to affect it in a way that, more people, for example, maybe just learned about Pokemon, or came back to Pokemon through Go. I think the awareness of Pokemon in general is a lot higher, so that may affect Sun & Moon in a certain way."

Masuda admitted to being surprised at how popular Pokemon Go became.  When we were first beginning the development of the game, I really just kind of expected that a lot of people would play it, but as a smaller thing, where people would just enjoy going outside and catching some Pokemon. That was really actually where we put the focus of the game."

Pokemon Sun and Moon will release for 3DS on November 18. Screenshots and other media were recently leaked, giving some players an early glimpse behind the curtain.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

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