According to a new — and outlandish — rumor, Pokemon Gen 10, the next mainline Pokemon game, will reboot the series and “change things drastically.” Nintendo has yet to reveal the follow-up to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. And there are likely a few reasons for this. One, the focus is currently Pokemon Legends: Z-A. And two, it is going to be a Nintendo Switch 2 game, which itself has yet to be revealed. In the absence of official details though, rumors run amok.
The latest raises a few red flags, but yet has caught the attention of Pokemon fans on social media platform X and elsewhere. And one of the reasons it has the attention of many is the massive claims it makes about Pokemon Gen 10.
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According to the rumor, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is going to “the final game set in the old timeline.” After it, starting with Gen 10, “the franchise will undergo a reboot.”
“This new era of the Pokemon franchise sets out to innovate on the old formula by changing things drastically and completely abandoning old mechanics such as the turn-based battle system,” claims the rumor.
Adding to this, it is claimed Gen 10 “will take place in a brand new timeline separate from the one we’ve seen from Gens 1-9 and will act as a renaissance for the whole franchise.” Concluding this, the rumor claims this is fitting because the game is set to take place in an Italian-inspired region.
Now, is any of this true? Well, right now there is no way to validate or invalidate the rumor. However, it raises some red flags. For one, the source is 4chan and someone who says they work for The Pokemon Company. To this end, why would anyone in this position risk their job, and potentially more, to leak some early info on 4chan? The other red flag is the source claims they don’t work directly on the games, but yet they have a ton of intel on both Pokemon Gen 10 and Pokemon Legends: Z-A. This seems to be a contradiction.
All of that said, while more often than not these type of rumors are bogus, sketchier and less likely rumors have turned out true in the past so they can never be written off completely. Still, take everything here with a grain of salt.
It is difficult to imagine The Pokemon Company making such drastic changes to a formula that continues to print money for it. History, and business sense, suggests Pokemon Gen 10 will be right in-line with previous games. Only time will tell though.