We’ve hit the first anniversary of the latest Pokemon titles. The Sword and Shield duo released on November 15th, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch. If you recall, these games released after weeks of high-intensity backlash from the community. Overall, the removal of many Pokemon from the game and a limited end-game revealed in leaks upset many. As we near the one-year mark, did this end up having an impact on the game?

By the time this publishes, we’ll be one day away from the final DLC pack for the Pokemon Sword and Shield games. These DLCs acted like the third-release game for this generation. If you recall, Gold and Silver released with Platinum coming after it. These sorts of afterthought games were anything but; they gave The Pokemon Company time to add a few extras in for the generation. The Sword and Shield DLC? Not so much.

The added content is limited in its actual addition to the game experience. Furthermore, its reentry of a few dozen Pokemon into the Pokedex doesn’t solve the original problem players had with the game. At the end of the day, players who struggled to find excitement about the game never got the things they wanted. Some concessions were made, but it didn’t result in a better game. You wouldn’t know that by looking at the sales, however.

Within a week of its release, Pokemon Sword and Shield sold over 1 million copies. The game to date sold well over 18 million copies. That doesn’t scream disaster on paper. For players, however, the lackluster DLC continues to remind them of the wasted potential of this generation. We’ll see if it affects games in the future, but I doubt the Pokemon machine will do anything but keep on churning.

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