• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Junichi Masuda replies to fan complaining about Pokémon DLC: "It's my birthday and a holiday, can you let me relax?"

Atheerios

Atheerios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,095


Find this sad and enfuriating, that the some Pokémon fans can be so toxic.

If you are out of the loop, a small but vocal minority has been harassing Masuda and other Game Freak staffers for half a year now because the Pokémon selection in SWSH. And now Masuda was just replying to a fan that wished him a happy birthday, but then another one tells him something about "removing old Pokémon to sell them as DLC", to which Masuda replies asks to please let him relax.

What specially strikes me about this is that it's the first time that he has replied to anybody about the topic. The man really just wants to enjoy his birthday, but Pokémon fans seem to be against even that.
 
JazzmanZ

JazzmanZ

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,362
Masuda should probably take a long break from his social media account, theres always going to be people like that.
 
criteriondog

criteriondog

I like the chili style
Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,053
I get being disappointed with Sword and Shield, but there is no excuse to harass anyone over it.
 

Moist_Owlet

Banned
Dec 26, 2017
4,148
Yeah this is taking the complaining too far.

I mean the game is shit and deserves criticism, but don't harass individuals criticize the company as a whole.
 
jph139

jph139

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,359
Being a developer with a social media presence is such a joyless thing - even the best game with zero problems will have a torrent of whining, abusive fans. I can't imagine why anyone would do it.
 
Aveyn Knight

Aveyn Knight

Member
Nov 29, 2017
304
UK
I saw that earlier as well. So disappointing to see.

I understand not liking the games or DLC, but there's a time and place for everything.

At times like this, I am honestly embarrassed to be a Pokemon fan.
 

Bowser

Member
Nov 7, 2017
2,814
That is so sad. Funny thing is that they aren't actually selling the Pokemon, you'll be able to get them without the DLC, just like in older games.
 
Lant_War

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
The Fallen
Jul 14, 2018
23,529
Sadly lots of devs get these kinds of messages. Mortal Kombat fans come to mind.
 

Moltres006

Banned
Jan 5, 2019
1,818
Bowser said:
That is so sad. Funny thing is that they aren't actually selling the Pokemon, you'll be able to get them without the DLC, just like in older games.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Problem is that without the gts itll be a pain to get them all without the need to subscribe to Home.
Hope they offer a free trial like bank did.
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,088
It's disappointing that we get an update announced that does work to fix the problems people had with SWSH and some people still can't chill. Maybe it's letting the trolls win, but if I was Masuda I just wouldn't use social media as much. Always felt like if I was a public figurehead, using social media would be extremely stressful.
 
ChrisD

ChrisD

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,606
That's, put bluntly, quite a pathetic person. Who does that on a Birthday post? (Okay, really on any post, but that's just further "why")
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,482
Austin
criteriondog said:
I get being disappointed with Sword and Shield, but there is no excuse to harass anyone over it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
100%

I wish I could understand why some people do this stuff. Just makes no sense to me. Plus its almost like theres no solution to stop people from dojng stuff like this or even crazier things like death threats. And not just for video games, anything.
 
TimeFire

TimeFire

Avenger
Nov 26, 2017
9,625
Brazil
I really feel for Masuda. Poor guy gets blasted everywhere and ShSw's hype cycle only made things worse. Pokémon's fanbase has become really embarassing.
 
Schreckweg 5000

Schreckweg 5000

Member
Jan 10, 2018
6,327
Always felt like Game Freak and the Pokemon Company never get the credit they deserve. Yes, the games have issues and are never technical showpieces, but keeping an IP relevant for over 20 years, while competition keeps burning out, takes some skill.
 
Hero of Legend

Hero of Legend

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,596
I really respect Masuda for responding since it shows that he's human like everyone else and is willing to just ask (and politely!) for folks to chill.

What I find confusing about the controversy is that this is just Gen 3 again and better since we can still get our old Pokemon back from prior gens. Feels like people just want their cake and eat it too. And really 90% of people already have SwSh anyway so they're only buying an expansion for $30 instead of a separate game for $60. You'd think this would be VERY well received.
 
Quantza

Quantza

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
641
Can people learn how to use the internet with respect, seriously?
When I was a kid, I never did this on Nintendo's official forums, for example (man, I'm old).
HockeyBird said:
Sometimes you just want to tell annoying people to shut the fuck up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This. It's the same with Harada, Ono, Kamiya and other well-known devs.
defaltoption said:
100%

I wish I could understand why some people do this stuff. Just makes no sense to me. Plus its almost like theres no solution to stop people from dojng stuff like this or even crazier things like death threats. And not just for video games, anything.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Forums or more closed-off communities with moderation is the answer.
With social media, emotions rule like a flood, sweeping any other points away.
 
Last edited:
Total Cereal

Total Cereal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
599
Wait, I'm out of the loop. People are mad about the DLC? They literally said (or at least, very strongly suggested) that the DLC meant we won't get the rerelease a year down the road forcing us to start all over to play the complete version. I applaud the move as an "about time" one, but one that is finally possible on Switch. We get lots of new content, more than 1.5x more Pokemon, and it's a reasonable price, too.

To harass and complain to Masuda on hirs birthday and a holiday about it is incredibly immature and disheartening and makes me disappointed in the community even more than I already was.
 
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,111
The worst thing about this is that the person complaining is complaining Pokémon were removed to be added in DLC. You don't need the DLC to get them
Total Cereal said:
Wait, I'm out of the loop. People are mad about the DLC? They literally said (or at least, very strongly suggested) that the DLC meant we won't get the rerelease a year down the road forcing us to start all over to play the complete version. I applaud the move as an "about time" one, but one that is finally possible on Switch. We get lots of new content, more than 1.5x more Pokemon, and it's a reasonable price, too.

To harass and complain to Masuda on hirs birthday and a holiday about it is incredibly immature and disheartening and makes me disappointed in the community even more than I already was.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's a lot of misinformation being spread about that the returning old Pokémon are paywalled
 

Deleted member 31092

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 5, 2017
10,783
Seeing Masuda actually respond to a negative comment is pretty weird. I don't think he ever did it before.
 
Okami

Okami

Member
Oct 28, 2017
67
For more context, the complaint tweet is a response to a tweet by Matsuda where he responds to a tweet congratulating him on his birthday.



Congrats tweet: Happy birthday mr Matsuda! [roughly] May you have a happy (new) year!

Matsuda: Thank you!! Psyduck's glasses are the best (laughs).

So it's not just a random tweet but someone who thought that tweet was a good place to complain.
 
Kolibri

Kolibri

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,996
So if Google translate is to be believed, that comment says: "Please give a word about the removal of the old Pokemon to make money at DLC."

Now, besides the fact that it's a dumb complaint (considering you can download the new Pokémon for free, without the need for dlc), I don't find that to be particularly toxic tbh. He's going to get Sword/Shield comments directed at him at Twitter, both positive and negative. To me this seems relatively tame?

Of course I'm only judging this one comment, while for Masuda it's one of many, many comments, so it's easy for me to say something like that, but this comment by itself does not seem that bad to me.

edit:
Okami said:
For more context, the complaint tweet is a response to a tweet by Matsuda where he responds to a tweet congratulating him on his birthday.



Congrats tweet: Happy birthday mr Matsuda! [roughly] May you have a happy (new) year!

Matsuda: Thank you!! Psyduck's glasses are the best (laughs).

So it's not just a random tweet but someone who thought that tweet was a good place to complain.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I just saw this after posting, but this changes a lot and makes it way shittier. Thanks for the context
 
Bansai

Bansai

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,199
I bet that person bought both Sword and Shield and 2 season passes.

smh... even though I think it's absurd, harassing someone on twitter is silly... then again, being on twitter is silly in the first place.
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,903
The disconnect between hardcore Pokéfans and "everyone else" has never been wider imo. I know more people IRL who are buying and playing (and loving) SWSH than probably any game in the series since the late 90s. And doing half price DLC rather than full price remixes seems like such a good move, I just don't understand the constant vitriol.
 
Total Cereal

Total Cereal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
599
Serebii said:
There's a lot of misinformation being spread about that the returning old Pokémon are paywalled
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I mean, catching them is paywalled, but they said in the direct that trading them doesn't require the pass. If, say, you don't want any of the content in the expansion but your favorite Pokémon is returning exclusive to one of the new islands, you can just trade with a friend who has the pass for that one Pokémon, allowing you to have it without buying the pass.

At least, those are my assumptions based solely on the info in the direct. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
 
oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,997
UK
I can't even begin to imagine how pathetic you need to be to complain about stuff like this to developers

Hopefully the guy is 12 or under, otherwise they need to seriously reflect on who they are as a person
 

Deleted member 679

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,741
Is every complaint now harrasment? His twitter, from his name to his posts, seem to be defined by his work. It's a place to interact with the fans and promote the games.

Maybe don't use it during holidays when you want a break?

I don't access my work e-mail on sundays and then complain about work-related messages.

I get where he's coming from, would never directly bother devs on twitter myself and wish him a happy birthday.

But it seems like a pointless discussion for us to have.

That guy telling Capcom's Yoshinori Ono that he's lazy and making Ono apologize for being lazy? That's going too far, that's harrassment.

Asking a Pokemon Producer in a twitter that is nothing but food and Pokemon to talk about Pokemon being sold as DLC? Eh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.