Some of you might remember this year's Super Bowl, and saw the very grandiose ad for Pokémon, celebrating the franchise's twentieth anniversary. In case you are wondering how the company could afford that, Pokémon has generated $45 billion in revenue since it began to debut in 1996. There is a big live stream event slated for this weekend, as well as some unveiling of some new Pokémon games of Pokémon Sun and Moon, not to mention the debut of Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow. By the way, here is the news about Pokémon Z and Pokémon GO release dates.
Venture Beat reports that a Pokémon Nintendo Direct live streaming video event is all on Friday, and it started at 7 PM Pacific Time (10 AM Eastern). The purpose is for the publisher to look back on twenty years of Pokémon with its games, films, and merchandise, not to mention how it has impacted popular culture as a whole.
Chances are, this live stream has already debuted the Pokémon Sun and Moon. Engadget figured this out as trademarks for those names had been filed. Sadly, there isn't too much information to be obtained about them, but the release date is "Holiday 2016".
On Saturday, something special happens as Nintendo and The Pokémon Company (owned by Nintendo and developers Game Freak and Creature) releases the original Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow games for the 3DS. There is even going to be a new special edition of the 3DS in North America that will come in Red and Blue and have two decorative face plates that feature art from the games.
Of course, this isn't the only things that Pokémon is up to. Most already know that the company has been working on taking Pokémon to the mobile platforms like iOS and Android with Pokémon GO. Pokémon GO is designed by Niantic Labs, creators of the location-based game Ingress. This location-based technology is going to come in handy when users will be able to find Pokémon via augmented reality through real-life locations, and can train and capture these pocket monsters (where Pokémon gets its name from). This game was announced last year, but it has yet to see an actual release date. It is believed that the release date will come after the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2016.
Then there are always the inevitable rumors of Pokémon Z. Most fans really loved Pokémon X and Y, and it has always been rumored or maybe just intensely believed, that there will be a follow-up to Pokémon X and Y with the next letter of the alphabet. Some have even pointed to the development of a Pokémon named Zygarde as an indicator that the game is on its way, but there has been no official announcement from Pokémon, therefore, no release date.
