After witnessing the buggy androgynous nature of Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, the Pokémon Company is intensifying its commitment to ESG, inclusivity and defeminization by investing $170,000+ in hiring a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Director.
According to a recent post on Twitter by PC Focus, The Pokémon Company is aiming to offer a salary of around $200,000 annually for its own Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director. Judging by the Job Summary, this role holds significant influence over the entire franchise.
Among the listed responsibilities are talent acquisition and talent management, indicating that the DEI Director will play a role in selecting personnel for the company and shaping their conduct. Additionally, there’s mention of “charitable community engagement,” suggesting that DEI initiatives will be a prominent and potentially unwelcome aspect of future events related to the Pokémon brand.
According to the listing, the eventual hire for this position will be responsible for fostering and advancing The Pokémon Company International’s (TPCi) global culture of innovation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This includes both promoting these values and ensuring they are integrated into the company’s operations.
“This role will partner with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Social Responsibility (DEISR) Team to build diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and Social Responsibility (SR) initiatives and programs to influence employee engagement, talent acquisition, talent management, charitable community engagement and marketplace opportunities across our global team to engage and retain talent and foster relationships in local and global communities,” further explained TPCi, making the most of their ‘corporate speak’ dictionary. “This role will ensure that the core elements of TPCi culture are well-defined and ever-present to employees, highlighting engagement as an essential component to support a positive, diverse, inclusive, innovative, and high-achieving environment. This position will report to the Vice President and Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer (CDO), lead the DEISR team, and will partner with stakeholders across the organization and operate as an internal business consultant.”
In addition to the standard duties of the position, the eventual hire will also be tasked with “driving alignment of DEI goals with business strategy for both internal employees, external fans, and the communities we serve.” In simpler terms, this means ensuring that DEI remains a central focus not only within TPCi’s internal operations but also in their interactions with players and fans externally.
It’s evident that Pokémon has drifted far from its heyday. The formula has become stagnant, and innovation for the brand appears to be a distant consideration. This is why indie titles like Palworld have emerged seemingly out of nowhere, offering consumers what they’ve been longing for: a genuine open-world creature capture game accessible on platforms beyond Nintendo’s ecosystem.
Rather than prioritizing the consumer and striving to improve the product to attract new customers and retain existing ones, The Pokémon Company is placing increased emphasis on ESG scoring with more DEI initiatives.
In the Pokémon franchise, changes have become increasingly apparent over the years. The long-standing series, spanning decades, has notably moved away from portraying characters in a distinctly feminine manner. For instance, the supposed “fastest selling title” in the franchise’s history, Violet and Scarlet, boasts the most diverse and inclusive cast of NPC character designs to date.
Unlike past entries where NPC characters typically appeared youthful and fit, some residents of Paldea in Violet and Scarlet defy this norm by being depicted as either elderly or, in the case of certain women, muscular and buff.
Moreover, the game opted to remove skirt options for players’ personal avatars, instead offering both male and female options with the same style of school uniform.
Adding insult to injury, the English localization for the Teal Mask DLC, the initial paid expansion pack for a flawed product devoid of originality or innovation, introduces gender-neutral restrooms.
Unfortunately, the character designs themselves within 2022’s Pokemon Violet and Scarlet are lackluster, appearing lazy and excessively androgynous. It becomes challenging to discern whether an NPC is meant to be male or female, as they often exhibit characteristics of both genders.
This marks a stark departure from previous entries in the franchise, where iconic characters were renowned for their distinct personality and design.
However, it’s evident that the modern generation, influenced by the belief that the virtual world reflects reality, and often subscribing to platforms like OnlyFans, takes offense to fictional characters within a video game being depicted as feminine or showing “too much skin.”
Their arguments lack substance beyond dismissive phrases like “touch grass” or resorting to baseless accusations of pedophilia against those who are simply tired of being presented with unattractive characters under the guise of “inclusivity.”
Mike Kern, also known as Grummz, responded to PC Focus regarding the job listing post, highlighting Niantic’s actions with their highly successful “Pokemon Go” mobile app. Kern pointed out that Niantic have made changes since the game’s initial release, particularly in how the female trainer is depicted. In earlier versions of Pokemon Go, the female trainer had a noticeably feminine appearance, with a slender body and a V-shaped jaw.
However, Niantic has removed the character’s pose of leaning to the side and jutting out her hip, and the design appears to have been altered with a much wider and more masculine jawline. Additionally, lipstick was also removed from the character’s design.
The Pokemon Company has been deemed a lost cause for some time now, a sentiment echoed by Mike Kern. An ominous statement from a corporate lawyer for the company revealed their intention to ‘purge’ anti-woke customers.
The next major Pokémon title slated for release, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, is scheduled to launch on the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2025. And Nintendo / The Pokemon Company seems to be focusing on pandering to woke ideologues and mental children seeking online validation, which feels rather cheap.
My expectations are quite low for another generational rehash, akin to Let’s Go, Eevee! as a Kanto reimaging and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl as subpar Sinnoh remake. It appears that prioritizing ESG capital funding is deemed more cost-effective than experimenting with a new formula or addressing the concerns of long-time fans hoping for franchise improvements.
Pokemon as a franchise was already diverse and inclusive as it was but apparently that just isn’t good enough for Larry Fink and his almighty BlackRock tyrant, Pokemon never felt the need to shove pronouns, and identity politics into its products beforehand but now it’s quite clear that DEI is at the center of their focus point.
Anticipate further instances of woke ideology and defeminized character designs in the future of a franchise that has long since passed its prime, the latest several entries have been Trubbish with this push for a DEI director confirms that the franchise as a whole will most certainly get even worse in the near future.
