One "unannounced project" is also listed

In case you missed it, there's a new Detective Pikachu game on the way to the Nintendo Switch. When The Pokémon Company originally announced it in 2019, it was mentioned how it would conclude the original game's story.

If you're wondering what's happened to this project since then - don't worry, it's still a thing. Following an update earlier this year, it seems a LinkedIn page may have revealed the project could be nearing completion.

Creatures Inc and PTCG Development Division Senior Programmer Jonathan Murphy (who has been in the position for 5 years) notes how he's worked on an "unannounced project" and Detective Pikachu 2, which is nearing release:

Using Unity/C#, worked on one unannounced project and one nearing release, Detective Pikachu 2. - Had ownership of core game features, doing everything from initial system design to final implementation. - Provided expert consultation on effective use of Unity and modern development practices.

Considering this game was announced in 2019, it's probably no surprise that it is potentially nearing release. Earlier this year in February, a quote from the Creatures Inc website reassured fans the game was still in development:

The original Detective Pikachu game was released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2018. It was followed by a movie a year later. Would you be interested in a follow-up on the Nintendo Switch to the original game? Comment down below.

When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

Miyamoto’s just proven that “nearing completion” means “in 8 years”.

The Detective Pikachu games really love to get announced, never be talked again for a few years and then someday they actually release to the surprise of everyone

Kind of surprised they'd even bother given the weird, drawn out schedule behind the first game's release and how no one really seemed to especially care about it at the time.

Guess you can bank on the movie to elevate its profile a bit, but while it is a good movie that did well (though not in Japan) I don't think it's had a lot of cultural staying power and it's been a few years at this point.

Detective Pikachu wasn't that good I thought. It's not really a puzzle solving game since Pikachu keeps telling you the solutions. So it's more like a "watch Pikachu solve puzzles" game.

with how consistent (if not rushed) most pokemon games and spinoffs come out its intriguing that this is the game thats been stuck in limbo. i dont think its even that highly regarded

Completely forgot about this one.

I'd have expected a port of the first game on Switch by now, which bafflingly launched over a year after the Switch hit store shelves. This really should have been a multiplatform release a la Fire Emblem Warriors and Sushi Striker.

Wasn’t pikmin 4 nearly ready in like 2016

@blindsquarel : I suspect that was a reference to Hey! Pikmin (which released in mid-2017, shortly after the Switch's launch), but something must have been lost in translation for people to jump the gun and assume that they were referencing Pikmin 4. There's no way that Nintendo have been sitting idly on Pikmin 4 for over 6 years, and the franchise's modest audience certainly doesn't justify such prolonged development.

@Silly_G What I am trying to say is that until the game is officially revealed, these rumors and leaks have no substance,

I'm still quite mad that they gave this a sequel instead of something like Conquest. IT'S POKEMON TACTICS HOW HAS THERE NEVER BEEN MORE THAN ONE.

I find it fascinating how we've only really heard of this game through LinkedIn profiles though: for a Pokemon spin-off, that's kind of unprecedented.

@Fizza Honestly I think Pokemon Conquest has probably been doomed by a combination of 1), being a crossover which would complicate working out doing another one, and 2), coming out a month before Fire Emblem Awakening came out and blew up that series into being a giant hit in the same genre. Those two factors together kind of render Conquest rather pointless to produce.

That said I would totally buy a Pokemon Conquest 2 the instant it came out, like without hesitation.

I completely forgotten a sequel was even announced. Imo the original game was a bore, even by the standards of most 'family-friendly' mystery games.

@Lizuka @Fizza Pokemon Conquest was also doomed to release on the dying DS hardware when the 3DS was already live and released. Didn't stop me from buying it though, that was a fantastic game.

I actually think it's the best way Pokemon can revisit Gen 5 for a remake/Legend Arceus styled game (being that it heavily featured Gen 5 Pokemon). Maybe give it an original story and characters, flesh out the main campaign more, and diversify move pool. Set it in the Unova region of the past and center it around warring factions between the Reshiram and Zekrom Kings.

Sad Pokemon spinoffs aren't as great as they used to be, most Pokemon media has felt too "safe" since Gen 6 launched and the Pokemon models were standardized. Pokken was probably the only last unique and decent spinoff and even that game is dead.

I can’t wait for this! I never got to play the original, but I’ve been waiting for the sequel since it got announced, one of my most anticipated “off titles,” personally. I hope it’s coming next year.

I'd completely forgotten about this but I'll definitely be picking it up.

I never played the original but I loved the film and honestly it's probably the only live action video game adaptation movie I've ever seen that was any good. After the mess that was the latest Mortal Kombat movie I'd given up hope on there ever being a decent video game adaptation but it turns out I'd been sleeping on one for years.

@Munchlax Detective Pikachu 2, the Pikmin 4 of Pokémon.

Oh man, I completely forgot this was announced, a few years back.

I think I'll wait for the movie. The last game was very clearly designed for kids, and the "puzzles" were not challenging at all, at least from what I played. The movie didn't have any mind-numbingly dull puzzles, but it did have Ryan Reynolds!

@Axecon I dunno, New Pokemon Snap and Super Mystery Dungeon / DX were pretty good. But there has definitely been a dearth of interesting spin-offs.

The big question is when exactly does it release?

@sanderev It hasn't been THAT long.

@Munchlax No it doesn't. Tears of the Kingdom and the Mario movie both have set release dates. And Pikmin 4 took nearly a decade to be publicly announced, not three like this one.

I admit I forgot about this one. I played the first on 3DS and enjoyed it, though for the most part it was pretty easy and didn't have a lot of replayability. For a Pokemon and 3DS game (using a 2018 lens), it was graphically unique and portrayed Pokemon in a very different manner than seen before.

I should also mention that the movie, while fairly decent for a video game adaptation, took the skeleton of this game's plot and ran away with it.

I liked the first game and from time to time I reminded myself that this exists, it was announced in production and we never got any kind of news. I hope D. pikachu voice actor makes a comeback. His voice was by far the high point of the game

I enjoyed the first game for what it was. The ending with the festival was underwhelming, though. My favorite chapter was the one where you investigated the lab. I'm looking forward to this sequel, and I wouldn't mind having the first game ported to Switch in the mean time.

@KayFiOS I think the second movie actually got scrapped sadly

@Silly_G It's a reasonable conclusion, but Pikmin 4 was mentioned as being "nearly finished" only a week or two before Hey Pikmin released, so I suspect that they were actually two separate games.

It's a question how the game will look with Unity. I honestly expected Creatures to use Unreal Engine after posting an image of Pikachu running on the engine in December 2017. Knowing how Creatures appreciates the graphical force of Pokémon games, I am invested!

i just want it to be closer to the 3DS game, than the movie i legit hate the movie and i am a Pokémon fan, but that movie angers me

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