Detective Pikachu 2 developer says it may be close to release

It’s been three years since The Pokémon Company was announced Detective Pikachu 2 for the Nintendo Switch. And given the total silence on the project since then, you’d be forgiven for completely forgetting a thing ever existed. However, due to a throwaway line on a developer’s LinkedIn profile, it appears that not only is it still there, but it’s coming out soon!

Detective Pikachu was sort of a 2018 (in the West) 3DS game in which the world’s favorite pocket monster moves away from his usual role of throwing deadly balls of electricity at absolutely anyone his tyrant master demands, gains the ability to speak, and begins investigating crime. You’re probably already picturing the Ryan Reynolds movie instead of the game, and that’s okay because it was absolutely gorgeous. “Dead Pool for children‘ I tell anyone foolish enough to approach me. The game itself was nicealbeit not groundbreaking.

word of a sequel was awarded in 2019, the film adaptation was released in the same year. But since then there hasn’t been a squeak or pika. However, unlike the film, the first game’s plot didn’t end, making its absence more of a nuisance. In 2019, The Pokémon Company President Tsunekazu Ishihara stated in a Pokemon Corporate Strategy Announcing that the new sequel would have a different ending than the film.

And then everything was quiet.

To date, when a cleverclogs on famiboards Spotted a throwaway comment from the developer Jonathan Murphy’s LinkedIn page. Murphy describes his work experience in his current position at Creatures Inc, where he has worked for the last five years (and still exists at the time of writing): “With Unity/C# he worked on one unannounced project and one close to release , Detective Pikachu 2.”

This is quite a surprise considering the game hasn’t been released during a single direct, nor even seen an entry in Nintendo’s financial reports the latest of these (pdf) mentions elusive titles such as Metroid Prime 4, but the tiny detective doesn’t feature at all. So if it’s really close to completion, the company is holding it incredibly close to its chest. (scarlet and violet are there in case you’re wondering if it’s because they don’t consider a Creatures Inc or Gamefreak game first party for some reason.)

the previous one Detective Pikachu was released in Japan two years ahead of its western release, which was boosted by the film’s release. So it could be that an all-Japanese version is almost ready? I do not know! Stop asking.

We’ve reached out to Jonathan Murphy, who hasn’t commented, and to Creatures themselves to see if we can get more confirmation.