It’s one of the franchise’s key mascots and one of the original 151 Pokémon, yet we haven’t seen Eevee receive a new ‘Eeveelution’ for a decade. Fans are still guessing as to why exactly this remains the case.
A little bit of history for those not informed. Eevee was incredibly unique back in Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Although many of its fellow 151 could evolve, this ‘Evolution Pokémon’ had three distinctly different secondary forms based on which type of stone you paired it with. The roster of Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon was expanded by two for Gen II: The Psychic-type Espeon and Umbreon, who represented the debuting Dark-type. These forms required high friendship during the day or night respectively.
Over the succeeding four generations, three more Eeveelutions would arrive. Leafeon and Glaceon were location-based evolutions revealed for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, whilst Sylveon would require knowledge of a freshly introduced Fairy-type move and high friendship in Pokémon X and Y. The new additions appeared to have slowed to every two generations, yet by the time Gen VIII arrived, there was something of a left turn.
Rather than give the fans a much anticipated Steel or Poison-type variant, Game Freak went all in on their regional gimmick for the Galar region. Eevee would be one of (technically) 33 Pokémon to receive a Gigantamax form, an exclusive to those who had a copy of Let’s Go, Eevee! It was something new, alright, but not necessarily something anybody was expecting or wanted.
—as pointed out by this morning—
So, now that we’re all caught up, let’s take a look at a Reddit discussion initiated by user SabertoothPotato. “Even from a business standpoint, the Eevee family is always on merch,” they stated. “The Eeveelutions were never any sort of groundbreaking ordeal with new moves or abilities. Why would they just not release anymore since Sylveon?”
To bring up the popularity of Eevee is a fair point well made initially. As mentioned previously just a couple of paragraphs ago, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! was the accompanying version of Let’s Go, Pikachu. These games have fans who will stand by them through baseless criticism. They are, graphically speaking, the prettiest in series history and integrate Pokémon GO’s catching mechanic very nicely. This alone is not reason enough to justify a new Eeveelution.
Then, we have Sabertooth’s assertion that the Eeveelutions had nothing special about them. I could not disagree with this more. Each new form spotlighted something newly introduced to that generation. Gen I had the concept of Eevee itself, Gen II had the Dark type and Day/Night cycle, Gen IV brought with it area-based evolutions, and Gen VI added the Fairy type. When you think about it in this way, the Gigantamax Eevee makes perfect sense since this was the big new mechanic introduced for Gen VIII.
InvestigatorUnfair made a very good argument, which many agreed with in response to the thread’s question. “Game Freak probably sees no reason for it,” they began, “and they don’t want to use up the potential hype of more Eeveelutions too quickly.” Pokémon is a franchise that is sure to last for many decades to come. We’re unlikely to see any further tinkering with the type chart itself, and thus, only nine possible Eeveelutions remain.
If I were to make an educated guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if two to three new forms were to be front and center of the Gen X promotional campaign. The stars are aligning, as the old saying goes. A milestone generation landing on the 30th anniversary of the franchise would be the perfect time to give the people what they want. It would certainly be an occasion worthy Atsuko Nishida’s attention, designer of all Eeveelutions except Jolteon and Flareon.
As posited by Eona_Targaryen, part of the problem might well be reverence for the creation process itself. “Given what I know of Japanese culture, it’s possible that new Eeveelutions are a bit of a holy cow that none of the less senior designers are comfortable touching,” they suggested. This might be a good time to mention that other Nishida credits include Pikachu and Charizard. No pressure, then.
Fans will have to extend their wait for any news on this topic, it seems. If, indeed, any news is on the horizon at all.
