PokeRogue is the early frontrunner for the most popular Pokémon fan game in 2024, but it looks like development may be suffering a bit of a setback as the game’s creator exited the game just two months after launch and expressed exit thoughts has.
PokeRogue launched on March 11th and quickly became one of the rising stars of the Pokémon community, attracting hundreds of thousands of players daily and conquering the content scene for developers and streamers alike. And although PokeRogue still has many new features and updates, thanks to the work of the development team, the game has come to an end. But this team loses one of its pillars as Samuel “FlashfyreDev” leaves the game after the finale is complete.
Lead programmer retires due to lack of time
On May 16, Sam announced that he would be stepping down as lead developer for PokeRogue with the release of the ending sequence in a new update. This came as a shock to many, as Sam has been the primary voice in communicating development decisions and schedules, server status updates, and more since the fan game’s launch, but his reasoning actually comes from the fact that he spent so much time in invested in the project.
“I worked on the game as a solo developer for nine months, and it didn’t really get much attention outside of small circles…” said Sam. “Recently it has exploded in popularity and a lot has happened. It went from being a purely individual project to a community project. I desperately looked for additional help and couldn’t find it, and now there is an overwhelming number of people who want to get involved in the game for free. This has far exceeded my wildest expectations and I thank you all for being a part of it.”
Samuel “FlashfyreDev” said he knows it looks strange, but he thinks it’s best for everyone involved if he leaves the project on a “good note” (finishes on a positive note) with one final update. The reason for this is that due to the success of the game, he knows that he will no longer be able to manage his time, which has already affected other areas of his life such as his faith, his family, and his actual job; and it doesn’t help that the game doesn’t and can’t make any money since it’s a fan game.
PokeRogue not monetized for fear of Nintendo
With this decision, Sam has handed over the Discord server and development decisions to several existing team members and thanked everyone who collaborated on his vision and helped make the game such a success that there are more than a billion battles (as of: May 13th). Going forward, he says he will probably withdraw from the community completely to avoid any doubts. He also has no plans to start another project.
As for PokeRogue? The remaining development team, including the two new decision makers, have already made it clear that the roguelite fan project will not be negatively impacted following Sam’s departure and will continue to be actively developed. How long and how well is the question, because sooner or later they too will suffer from the same problem as Samuel “FlashfyreDev”. As long as the game doesn’t make money, everyone involved has to cross-finance their living.
The team has also reiterated that the game will remain free to play, without monetization, to prevent The Pokémon Company from filing a DMCA lawsuit to shut down the fan project or Nintendo from taking legal action against them.
2024-05-17 12:43:42
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