The Pokemon Company is releasing a two-part expansion for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero will take players outside of the Paldea Region and bring a bunch of fresh faces to the most recent mainline Pokemon installment.
The first part, The Teal Mask, will take trainers on a school field trip all the way to the land of Kitakami in the fall, while the second part, The Indigo Disc, will arrive before the next winter season ends. Although the developers will release the expansion in two halves, they're all part of a single massive DLC, as the visits to both Kitakami and Blueberry Academy are narratively linked.
This massive investment in arguably the buggiest Pokemon title to date is a no-brainer after Scarlet and Violet set a new record for the franchise as the fastest-selling pair of games.
In less than six months, Scarlet and Violet have already sold over 20 million units. The release of the expansions could vault the games to historic heights as the best-selling Switch games to date. At the moment, this record is held by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with 52 million units sold.
Part of the reason why Scarlet and Violet could outrace the latest Mario Kart game is the likely release of the new Nintendo Switch model/bundle to coincide with the launch of The Indigo Disk. A 4chan user, who claims to work as a programmer for one of GameFreak's outsourcing companies, has gotten details about the newly-confirmed DLC right. It's now believed that his info is legit and Nintendo will confirm the new Nintendo Switch soon enough.
This year's Pokemon Day has been quite fruitful as Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company confirmed details about Pokemon Concierge and Pokemon Sleep as well.
As for Nintendo, the forefather of modern gaming is skipping E3 2023 presumably due to the lack of upcoming releases.
The next big AAA title coming to the Nintendo Switch is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. A new Switch bundle will reportedly be announced on Mario Day next month, albeit Nintendo has already confirmed that it only has a cinema-only showcase planned ahead of the premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
