Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Pokémon Sword and Shield have released to nearly universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. However, there are small (yet vocal) contingents that argue loudly about certain issues within both games. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order brings new characters and story into the Star Wars canon, but the Dark Souls inspired combat and difficulty has become a barrier for many players, with some faulting imprecise and clunky controls. For Pokémon, the ire of fans was much more public. #GameFreakLied began trending on Twitter before the games' release, with fans accusing the developer of failing to meet certain promises. Tech stumbles such as object pop-in, textures not loading, and frame rate slowdown were assumed by fans to be a result of rushed development and cutting corners.
Despite high sales numbers and good reviews, the blowback from certain fans is hard to ignore. Considering the criticisms are largely focused on technical issues, a delayed-release may have solved the problem before it became one. More time usually means more polish, so what stopped these corporations from taking that time?
The easy answer is to blame it on corporate greed. After all, as beloved as Star Wars and Pokémon are, their publishers, EA and Nintendo respectively, care about sales above all else. The November 15th release date for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Pokémon Sword and Shield was clearly an economically strategic decision. With the holidays and Black Friday following shortly after, EA and Nintendo are likely counting on continued sales through the end of the year. Whereas delaying both games to next year, perhaps to a less lucrative release date, would have hurt their bottom line.
It's also worth considering that both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Pokémon Sword and Shield are parts of a larger whole. It's no coincidence that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was released while The Mandalorian is airing on Disney+ and just a month before Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. All three products are no doubt intended to build off one another's hype and sales, similar to 2017, when Star Wars Battlefront II was released just a month before Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi. These big releases are also accompanied by books, comics, and other supplemental materials. Delaying one may mean that EA, Lucasfilm, and Disney would have to delay one of the others, and considering the amount of work that goes into marketing and distribution, it may simply have been impossible.
This is true of Pokémon as well. Just two days after the worldwide release of Pokémon Sword and Shield, the first episode of the new Pokémon anime series premiered in Japan. The series features locations and characters from Sword and Shield, so delaying the games would mean that the series would likely have to be delayed as well to avoid spoilers. This also goes for the Pokémon Trading Card Game and all merchandise pertaining to Sword and Shield. That is a lot of content to consider, and the nearly simultaneous roll-out is key to Nintendo's release strategy.
While the simultaneous release of content from Star Wars and Pokémon is intended as a way to boost sales and attention, it's also something fans have come to expect and appreciate. It is unfair to expect Nintendo to release merchandise, trading cards, and a new anime series alongside Pokémon Sword and Shield, while also asking them to delay the game just to iron out a few technical issues, especially when none of them are game-breaking. Fans are placing these corporations in a lose-lose scenario where they may lose sales and excitement by delaying a game, but criticism if they don't. Nintendo undoubtedly had the capital to afford to delay Pokémon Sword and Shield, but the same fans who were asking for that may have found themselves disappointed if all of the other content in the eighth generation was delayed as well.
The lesson that can be learned from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Pokémon Sword and Shield is that more time is good for development, but that has to be planned far in advance of release. Had Nintendo and GameFreak waited to announce a release date until after #GameFreakLied emerged, then they would've had more flexibility to change course. Perhaps publishers like Nintendo and EA should consider waiting longer to announce release dates or start relying less on company-wide product roll-outs. But at the same time, fans should be aware of what they are expecting from these companies, and how realistic their demands really are.