'Pokémon Stars' release date: New Pokémon game to come next year with 20 new monsters?

Pokémon Stars: What's going to happen after Pokémon Sun and Moon?The Pokemon Company

Fans are waiting for the great reveal of the next "Pokémon" game, "Pokémon Stars." While official details about the monster-hunting role-playing game are sparse as of now, various rumors speculating different possibilities are springing up. A listing on the internet, however, might mean it will be the first Pokémon game for Nintendo's new console, the Switch.

Siliconera reports that Game Freak, the company that makes Pokémon RPG games, is currently in need of 3D CG designers for a new console development project.

Game Freak has two listings, both of them found in a Japanese website (translated via Google Translate). The listings say the ideal candidate must have experience working on Wii U- and PS Vita-level character models using Maya, a modeling software. Those who are accepted to the job will work on creating "deformed toon-like figures, monsters, items and so on."

While the listing makes no mention of Pokémon, it does mention that the work will be for a "worldwide popular RPG" with a title "that everyone knows" and has been in the market for "a long time." And while the same listing doesn't mention the Nintendo Switch, it does mention that the project is slated to run on a console.

While the listings might raise fans' hopes that the follow-up to "Pokémon Sun" and "Pokémon Moon" will be coming shortly, some fans speculate that since Game Freak is still hiring, the title might not be released in the soonest time. It might be released in 2018, some believe.

Still, the listings don't mention "Pokémon Stars" anywhere, so it might be for something else.

New Pokémon for upcoming game?

Also, rumors of new monsters coming to Pokémon Stars have surfaced. In a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything, video game critic Laura Dale says there's a possibility that 20 or more monsters will be added to Pokémon Stars. Korea Portal notes that Dale has been proven as an accurate Nintendo Switch leaker, and so this info might be worth considering.

Stay tuned for more updates on "Pokémon Stars."