Does The Pokémon Company Hate Nuzlocke Challenges Like It's Piracy? The company responds
In case you don't know, it's good to understand what a Nuzlocke is. In short, it is a challenge with self-imposed rules, not enforced by the game: there are no hacking or other "illegal" elements. It can take various forms, but as a rule the player cannot heal a Knocked Out Pokémon. and can only capture the first creature he encounters on each path. Then there are more elaborate Nuzlocke, which prevent you from using items, heal yourself in Pokémon Centers, or focus only on certain types of Pokémon or even on Pokémon of a specific color. Content creators use Nuzlockes to offer viewers interesting content and, on average, they are loved.
In a video, which you see below, two former Nintendo employees explained that - given the popularity of these challenges - they proposed to The Pokémon Company to do a Nuzlock in an official live stream. The reaction was extremely negative, to such an extent that they thought they were at risk of being fired.
"We consider [the Nuzlocke] at the same level as a pirated copy of a game": these, according to the statements of the former employees, were the words of The Pokémon Company. The couple were extremely amazed at the reaction and, we admit, we also don't understand how the two can be put on the same level.
Former employees also explain that the reaction is problematic, internally to the workplace, as it prompts employees not to propose any particular or potentially interesting idea, since it is not known whether it will be taken negatively. They explain that proposing an idea and seeing it rejected means losing the trust of superiors and no longer having access to certain contents, so the employee does not want to risk and prefers to do nothing more than what is requested.
Update 19 / 09: Joe Merrick of Serebii.net shared a message that he claims comes directly from The Pokèmon Company, which denies having any problems with fans and content creators playing with Nuzlocke rules in Pokémon.
Merrick also claims that The Pokémon Company has never blocked collaborations or partnerships with creators who have offered Nuzlockes to their fans. This is in contrast to some statements from former Nintendo employees, which we reported above.
This statement does not deny, however, that Nuzlocke are not appreciated within the company. Simply The Pokémon Company seems to have specified that there has been no "retaliation" against creators who deal with Nuzlocke. As long as you don't use hacks to play Pokémon in a special way, there's nothing wrong with these challenges.
What do you think? Will you play a Nuzlocke with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?
Source # 1 Source # 2 Did you notice any errors?
