Detective Pikachu producer on creating something totally different, using voice recording/facial capture tech

Detective Pikachu is quite a departure for Pokemon Co. in a number of ways. In an interview with USGamer, producer Hiroyuki Jinnai discussed how the team wanted to come up with something totally different when creating the game, and how it lead to some first-time experiences for the company.

"In Pokemon, each one represents a species, and not an individual character necessarily. So Ash's Pikachu is just one of many Pikachu, and in creating Tim's Pikachu, we wanted to come up with something totally different. So we came up with this middle-aged man personality that's also kind of charming.

This kind of project, where we used voice recording and facial capture, was really kind of a first for us. Seeing whether we could combine it into a game was compelling was a test for us. So we decided we wanted to release this smaller piece in Japan first to see if it would become a compelling product. It was kind of a trial for us."