Nintendo addresses Pokémon Scarlet and Violet performance issues

Last month, Pokémon Scarlet and Violetreleased to generally positive reviews. Most critics praised the open-world format, as well as most of the designs for the new monsters. However, the praise came with a disclaimer: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are something of a technical mess.

Yesterday, Nintendo acknowledged the complaints and has released a patch 1.1.0 that seeks to address some of the issues.

“We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the games’ performance,” the company said in a statement. “Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We take the feedback from players seriously and are working on improvements to the games.”

The patch notes include the launch of the first season of ranked battles, and a fix for a handful of “select bug fixes.” 

The revelation that Scarlet and Violet are replete with bugs and framerate issues caught many franchise fans off guard; Pokémon is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, after all. For Scarlet and Violet to be launched in such a condition was nothing short of disappointing.

“…The grievously poor performance that has come along with it significantly mars this otherwise exciting design evolution,” wrote Rebekah Valentine for IGN.

“Pokémon Scarlet and [Violet are] rough, both in terms of its performance and visual fidelity,” GamesRadar’s Joel Franey said for GamesRadar.

For Eurogamer’s Lottie Lynn, the art is also rather uninspired. 

“Despite the bright colors, Paldea has an inescapable blandness brought about by the basic textures and how, in many places, there’s been no attempt to blend their transitions together, leaving you staring at the perfectly straight line between rock and grass.”

It is no doubt disappointing to see a mainline Pokémon title launch in such a condition. Hopefully Nintendo and developer Game Freak can fix some of the more glaring issues via patches in the near future.