"Enough is enough": Pokemon fans are struggling with Scarlet and Violet

Pokemon Scarlet Violet starters best evolutions
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Pokemon community at large is voicing its displeasure over Scarlet and Violet's performance issues.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet only just launched earlier today on November 18, but players are already speaking up about performance woes. The vast majority of the top posts on the Pokemon subreddit - with over 4.2 million members - are dedicated to criticizing Scarlet and Violet's various performance issues at launch.

In particular, the posts are calling into attention stuttering and frame rate issues on the Nintendo Switch. Some are calling it one of the worst-performing Nintendo Switch games they've seen for a while, and others are questioning how The Pokemon Company was happy to publish the two games in such a state.

It's worth pointing out there doesn't seem to be an overriding sense of malice in the posts on the Pokemon subreddit. "We want to see the games succeed not just for our own benefit as consumers, but for the well being of the franchise we all know and love," one post reads, noting that despite steps in the right direction, new games are falling further and further behind when it comes to the technical aspect.

We'll have to wait and see whether Nintendo or The Pokemon Company ends up issuing any sort of statement regarding player feedback on the performance issues of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. 

In the meantime though, Scarlet and Violet players have found a temporary workaround to the performance issues, which simply involves shutting down and restarting the games. These players posit that the performance woes could be down to memory leaks, especially when entering cities in the two games.

Head over to our full Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters guide if you're wondering who to pick when kicking off the new adventures. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.