Two weeks into the life of the notoriously buggy Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Nintendo has finally issued a patch for the latest Pokémon adventure.

That in itself is not particularly newsworthy — considering the absolute state of the games, many expressed it would be inexcusable for Nintendo to not issue fixes after release. What is newsworthy is the tone Nintendo took in its announcement of the 1.1 patch.

A software update for #PokemonScarletViolet (Ver. 1.1.0) will be released on 12/1. Please visit our website for more information: https://t.co/4kh6Dtui4c

We take the feedback from players seriously, and will continue to work on improvements to the games.

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 1, 2022

"We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the games' performance," Nintendo wrote in its patch notes. "Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We take the feedback from players seriously and are working on improvements to the games" [emphasis added].

Considering Nintendo's, shall we say, "combative" relationship with its customers and fans, an open apology to players of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feels like a dramatic step for the company many fans felt they were owed but did not think they would ever get.

It's kind of a half-hearted apology full of corporate speak but I'll admit, I fully expected Nintendo to never acknowledge the performance issues at all. I excepted patches but not for them to ever say anything. https://t.co/2bXaMSEPnn

— Matt Lally (@ImpishMATT) December 1, 2022

I don't think people realize just how big a deal it is that Nintendo actually acknowledges the state of the Pokemon games in the patch notes. When do they EVER do that?

— Ethan (@GreenEyedZeke) December 1, 2022

Nintendo actually addressing the problems in Pokémon and actually dropping a patch for Pokémon sooner rather than later 🧐🧐🧐 https://t.co/W7VmV9CqXj

— The Return of PettySatire🥧 (@BluSatire) December 1, 2022

As for what's in the patch, Nintendo is pretty vague. The only bug it explicitly says will be fixed pertains to the music in the Elite Four battles where a bug caused the tunes' introductory measures to play on a loop during the most climactic battles of the game, giving the fights a meditative, Steve Reich-esque feel. The other notes promise "select bug fixes" and the opening of Ranked Battles.

Depending on what's covered by "select bug fixes," this may not be the last patch for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, as many players have noted there's a lot to fix despite the games' highly enjoyable core gameplay loop. At the very least for Pokémon fans, it's a small comfort to know that Nintendo is working to fix the games, and is sorry for their release state.

Still, it's likely that most Pokémon fans would be happy to wait a little extra time for mainline titles if it means release states like those of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet can be avoided in the future.