"Unpopular Opinion: This announcement has the potential to be the best thing to happen to the franchise in a long time, but not for the reasons you think."

I'm not excited about Unite. I'm aware of how shitty Tencent is. Let's just get that out of the way right now. This is NOT a post defending the reveal today in the slightest. But, from a big picture perspective, there are a lot of good things that could come out of the implications of today.1. No mainline game this year.We all remember how controversial Sword and Shield was. No matter what side you fell on during the Dexit controversy, one thing is glaringly obvious about the first entries to the 8th generation; they were underwhelming and had lots of problems. Generally speaking, I think most of the issues of Sword and Shield can be blamed on being rushed out for the Holiday 2019 release, and they were the fifth game in a row in a long string of annual releases on 3D systems, starting with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I've seen a ton of criticism leveled at the last few entries in the franchise for being extremely linear, limiting in side content, and overall disappointing.I was honestly scared that they were going to continue down this path, because Masuda stated that he wanted a new mainline game EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Obviously, with the many problems and shortcuts that were taken to get Sword and Shield out on time, that meant the quality of the games themselves would not have been priority in this process. Generation 4 is one of, if not THE most popular generation, and rushing a half-assed Sinnoh remake this year would have likely been a total disaster. Since we've passed the window of a mainline game being revealed, it's safe to say that we aren't getting a main series game this year, with the focus being shifted to the very well recieved and hyped DLC.This hopefully means that the staff over at GameFreak working on whatever title they have planned for next year, (and we WILL have a mainline game, as it is the 25th anniversary of the franchise in 2021,) have some extra time to put more effort into making the game as good as it can be. I don't know how many people would have felt if the long awaited Sinnoh remake suffered from many of the issues that Sword and Shield/ORAS suffered from. This extra year gives them more time to fix the problems that the fans were EXTREMELY vocal about. If there were significant problems behind the scenes in Sword and Shield's development cycle, hopefully this means they'll take more care and slow things down. They're still making more money off of one copy sold, because they're $20 more expensive than the 3DS titles, and the DLC is another $30 on top of that. They have found a way to make up for their potential losses by skipping every other year to release a mainline game, and they can afford it.2. The climax of the mobile game pushback.Ishihara, President of TPC, believed that the Switch was going to be a failure, and, due to the success of Niantic's Pokemon Go, believed that the only way for the franchise to survive, is to put more of a focus on mobile gaming. [https://www.businessinsider.com/pokemon-ceo-tsunekazu-ishiharan-nintendo-switch-fail-2017-9](He has since stated that he stands corrected.) Despite this, TPC pushed out Pokemon Masters, which was successful for a while, then fell off the face of the earth shortly after the hype died down, and is now pushing out Pokemon Unite.The criticism and backlash against Unite is the largest push back I've ever seen in the history of this fanbase. It doesn't even hold a candle to the shitstorm Dexit caused, because there were an even number of people on both sides. Almost the ENTIRE fanbase, [including many Chinese fans, who were most likely the target demographic, due to the partnership with Tencent,] came out in droves and screamed; "FUCK this game, and FUCK Tencent." Either because people were underwhelmed by the idea of the big announcement being a poorly optimized mobile title (that frame rate in some clips... Yikes.), or because it was made by everybody's favorite monopolistic totalitarian strongarm company Tencent. This was the loudest that the fanbase has ever been when railing against a mobile title in the history of the series. If this game underperforms, it may scare TPC from investing in any more cheap mobile games.3. The contrast of the overwhelming praise that other decisions TPC has made over the past few months compared to the reaction to today's revealThis year is good for spinoffs, and quite possibly the best in a very long time. We got a remake of Mystery Dungeon which was exciting, showing us that there's still an interest to continue developing Mystery Dungeon titles for the Pokemon franchise, plus, we also got a revival of Pokemon Snap, which has been demanded for literally decades, now. These spin off titles on the Switch are what many people in the fanbase, including casuals, want more than anything. The difference in reaction is like night and day. I think this past year has been excellent when it comes to fans voicing their frustrations and concerns. It's loud and obvious.Similarly, the DLC has been equally praised for going all in when it comes to making a seamless, open area that's fun to explore and run around in. Hiroyuki Tani, the director of these DLCs has shown a ton of promise when it comes to implementing progressive game design into this long and historied franchise, and the fans have been eating it up. Personally, the Isle of Armor is the most fun I've had playing Pokemon since Black and White 2 way back in 2012. I hope he gets the chance to direct Generation 9's titles, and goes even further with the idea of exploring a vast world, because that would go perfectly with Pokemon's original purpose. Ohmori and Masuda's style of keeping the games linear is losing steam with fans, and it's becoming increasingly obvious that their philosophy around keeping players from "getting lost" is outdated. The fact that both Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra are isolated open areas that are focused specifically around exploring and discovery suggests that not only is GameFreak experimenting further with these ideas, but they also have a chance to hear from players about how this is what the future of the franchise is.They know what satisfies us and makes us happy; strong entries into the main line games that offer freedom, exploration, and depth. We like spinoffs that are both old classics (Snap, Ranger, Mystery Dungeon), and newer ideas that take the franchise in different directions, and take risks (Pokken Tournament, Detective Pikachu). They also know what pisses us off; half-assed games that feel incomplete and bare bones compared to other titles on the same console, and mobile games because they don't have enough depth.ConclusionSo, I believe that this has the potential of BECOMING something really good for the series. This past year has been a big test for all of us, and we as a community have been made very happy and very angry in quick succession numerous times. It's been a roller coaster, but one thing is for sure; WE HAVE BEEN LOUD.GameFreak, Nintendo, and TPC have no excuse now. Our anger has reached #1 trending on social media numerous times. It has attracted the attention of large gaming journalist outlets covering these controversies. They HAVE heard us, and they know what will happen if they continue to do nothing but disappoint. They pose a very real danger of losing money if they aren't careful, and we have no intention to stay quiet about it. We love this franchise, we love this world, and we love its potential.They aren't stupid. I'm sure they are aware that they could lose a lot of money if they don't get their act together.Keep voicing your opinions. They hear us, hopefully they will listen. via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/2Z9wpsn