Interest

Tencent Is Seeking To Hire a "Pokemon Consultant"

Encyclopedic Pokémon fans who poured thousands of hours into the franchise's games and other media have now become a source of talent that companies producing Pokémon games couldn't ignore. According to a tweet by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, the Chinese-based game company Tencent has recently opened up 19 Pokémon-related job listings, including the intriguingly-named "Pokémon Concept Consultant".

As Ahmad pointed out, the requirements for the position are surprisingly strict; aside from being "familiar with the worldview and history of Pokémon", applicants also need to have cleared all of the mainline Pokémon games with at least 900 hours of accumulated playtime, reached the Master Ball tier in Pokémon Sword and Shield (the highest achievable rank in Sword and Shield's Battle Tower), and watched more than 500 episodes of the various Pokémon anime. Those hired would be responsible for assessing the core gameplay, characters, systems and art of upcoming games and ensuring that they "faithfully restore the Pokémon worldview".

As of this time of writing however, the listing for "Pokémon Concept Consultant" has been removed.

Ahmad speculated that the job offerings are related to the development of Pokémon Unite, a 5 v 5 strategy battle game currently being developed for smartphones and the Nintendo Switch by Tencent's TiMi Studio Group. Tencent is currently partnered with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and the job listings might also hint at other Pokémon-related projects being pursued by the company.

Source: Daniel Ahmad's Twitter