Could 2015 be the year for Game Freak to finally release a Pokemon MMO game?

This was the question ignited by Game Freak developer Tetsuya Watanaba at 4Gamer's year-end developer survey, when he teased the company's next project.

"We're doing a lot of different things with respect to our next project, so right now we're focusing on getting ready to announce it," said Watanaba. "We sincerely hope from the bottom of our hearts that it'll be worth checking out once we get to that point."

"Lucky, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of that, I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokemon X and Y and sequels are being handled by other Project Managers."

"Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against the time. If we would always take three years of time to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest."

While this may be vague at best, many observers feel the implications could be that Game Freak will announce an open-world Pokemon MMO game.

"Come on Pokemon MMO," commented Dethfuse on Gamerant. "Been wanting a game like that since before I even knew what an MMO was."

The concept of an open-world Pokemon MMO game has been tackled by fans as well. Last year, YouTuber 18T220 revealed videos of his version of such a game, powered by CRYENGINE. The tentative title, according to Gamingfall, was Pokemon World.