Pokemon Sword and Shield Director Discusses Possibility of a Fully Open-World Pokemon Game

Pokemon Sword and Shield will be the first mainline Pokemon games that allow for free camera movement. For those that don't know: most of the Nintendo Switch games are linear and feature the classic four-direction style Pokemon exploration, but there's a part of the games, the Wild Area, that allow for complete free roaming movement. And of course this begs the question: when will get a fully open-world mainline Pokemon game? Well, according to Pokemon Sword and Shield director Shigeru Ohmori, Game Freak is always looking for new surprises for players, which is what the new camera options in the Wild Area are. That said, Ohmori and his team will see what the reaction is of players to this feature, and then decide what they want to do in the future based off this reaction. In other words, if fans are very receptive to this aspect of the game, well maybe Game Freak will explore even more on expanding the open-world quality of the series.

"We always want to come up with new surprises for our players with each new Pokemon game," said Ohmori while speaking to Pokemon.com. "This is our first time introducing free camera movement in the series, so we're excited to see how our players will respond to it once they get their hands on the games. We'll think about what we want to do in the future based on those reactions."

As you may know, Pokemon fans have been dreaming for years about the idea of a fully open-world mainline Pokemon game. However, I'm sure there are plenty of fans who wouldn't be so receptive to such a big change. And thus it's a delicate dance, which perhaps explains why Game Freak is testing it out first with the Wild Area in Sword and Shield.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are in development for Nintendo Switch, and are poised to release worldwide on November 15. For more news, media, rumors, leaks, and information on the pair of Nintendo Switch exclusives, be sure to peruse all of our previous and extensive coverage of the titles by clicking right here. Meanwhile, be on the lookout for many more Pokemon Sword and Shield articles in the coming days as their release draws closer and closer.