A new survey released by Nintendo appears to suggest that the upcoming Switch Pokemon game will be launched in 2018.
Several media outlets have confirmed a question asking fans what games they were interested in buying in 2018.
Included in the list were all titles confirmed for this year: Minecraft, Mario Kart 8, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Mario Tennis Aces.
It also contained one surprise entry, namely that of the new Pokemon RPG, announced last year for E3.
This isn’t an official announcement stating that Pokemon will be launching on Nintendo Switch this year, however, it does lineup with some juicy rumours.
Some have pointed to the game being launched in the next 12 months, while others have also teased what it might be called.
Stemming from a report sourced in China, it appears that Pokemon on Nintendo Switch could be arriving in December 2018, or early 2019.
That’s a long wait for fans, which could have an even bigger effect if it misses next year’s important holiday sales window.
A new Yoshi and Kirby Star Allies game is also in the works for 2018, however, neither of these will be able to live up to the hype that Pokemon can create.
If Nintendo can squeak out the new Pokemon RPG on Switch in 2018, it would definitely prove a huge boon to the console.
This would serve as another great exclusive for the Switch, from a franchise that won’t be available on either Sony’s PS4 or Microsoft’s Xbox One.
New trademarks have also been found that apparently point to Nintendo and Game Freak calling their next Pocket Monster adventure – Pokemon 1 and Pokemon 0.
These listings apparently came with some kind of new art design, although it seems unlikely that they will remain part of the final game.
As you might expect, a lot of fans are sceptical that Nintendo would be trademarking with so much still unknown about the RPG project.
However, it would make a lot more sense if Nintendo are planning to release their next Pokemon game by the end of the year.
Fans were hoping for some kind of announcement being made during the January Direct event, although that mainly involved smaller projects.
There’s still hopes that another big Direct event might be held in February, Nintendo do seem to like pairing their big new drops in clusters.
Several times in the past, Nintendo have followed up one Direct event with another, a few weeks later.
And a major news drop would help setup the Switch for some major hype before E3 2018.
Providing a stream of new updates will be much more important to Nintendo this year, than both Sony and Microsoft.
The Japanese games giant is looking to move a lot of console this year, meaning news on their majors announcements will be needed to help fuel it.