Pokemon Champions, being developed as a long-term service battle game

Masaaki Hoshino, producer of Pokémon Champions, a new game being developed by The Pokémon Company International (TPCi), said the game is being designed to be available "basically forever." In a group interview, he even mentioned the possibility that the Pokémon series could one day reach "2,000, 3,000, maybe even 10,000 species."

Pokémon Champions was designed as a PvP battle platform that focuses on competitive play and long-term updates rather than the traditional single-player adventure. As long as the series continues, the game will evolve as new Pokémon are added.

Balance management with rotation ‘block’ system

It took nearly 30 years for the Pokémon series to surpass 1,000 species, and there are currently 1,025 species registered in the National Encyclopedia. Over 9 generations, more than 100 species have been added each time, but the number of 10,000 species is currently difficult to imagine.

Producer Hoshino explained that the goal is to include as many Pokémon as possible in the game, but not all of them will be available at the same time. Instead, the plan is to periodically rotate available Pokémon through a 'block' system, similar to the 'regulation set' currently used in competitive Pokémon competitions.

This approach appears to be aimed at managing the complexity of the game. Even with just over 1,000 games currently available, balancing a competitive battle game is quite a challenge. Producer Hoshino noted that when the number of Pokémon increases to thousands, making all of them available at once would be a "complicated situation."

Suggests infinite expansion potential for the Pokemon franchise

The core message is that Pokémon Champions will be around for years, but what's more noteworthy is that it shows how dramatically the franchise's future can expand. As Pokémon only recently surpassed 1,000 species after decades of history, the mention of 10,000 species is interpreted as a reminder of how endlessly the franchise can grow, rather than as a short-term goal.