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🪐 has got you covered with fresh content from our trending stories of the day! Set email preference . Want to know what's trending right now?: The Techbeat by HackerNoon here Python's Testing Playbook: Building Bulletproof Code By [ 11 Min read ]
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The TechBeat: Python's Testing Playbook: Building Bulletproof Code (1/16/2024)

How are you, hacker?
🪐 has got you covered with fresh content from our trending stories of the day! Set email preference . Want to know what's trending right now?: The Techbeat by HackerNoon here Python's Testing Playbook: Building Bulletproof Code By [ 11 Min read ]
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The TechBeat: Python's Testing Playbook: Building Bulletproof Code (1/13/2024)

THE EUMENES

Hey Hackernoon! My name is Igor Shaversky. I am the co-founder of WaveUp. You can read more about us in our profile here or on our . We are engaged in a rather rare line of business - consulting in VC. What does this mean? That we can tell you a lot about the best way to raise money. website In our first publication, we want to talk about the best way to build the funding ask slide. Let's go! The moment you make the “big ask,” you have arguably reached the culmination of your pitch deck presentation. Surprise, surprise, that’s also the part where many founders fall flat on their faces, diminishing their chances of getting to the negotiation stage. Asking for money isn't always as straightforward as it seems. Ask for too much, and you can end up looking for funds for months or years on end. Fail to show how the money will support your business model and facilitate 10x growth – which is what VCs actually invest in – and you’ll be met with a bunch of chuckling faces instead of cash. While a flawless funding ask slide alone won’t secure you the round, it will do something equally important: it won’t blow your chances. The information discussed below will help you with that. Three components of the perfect funding ask The funding ask is the final stage of your fundraising pitch. It often consists of two parts: the ask itself and a description of the use of funds. Here, you explain the sum you are raising, how you will use it, and what it will achieve for the business. Ideally, it must contain three main components. The funding sum Make sure to put enough thought into how much money you’ll request. A rule of thumb is to base your ballpark on the numbers in your so that you can defend it should the investors challenge you. Remember that, over the course of the fundraising process, you will likely need to adjust the sum anyways. Knowing your maths will help you to find the perfect compromise between what you need and what you are offered. financial model In some cases, you can also mention the funding stage if you need to put the numbers into context. Mentioning it shows whether the sum and the stage match (which isn’t always the case) and informs the investors about your previously raised funds, if you have any. Use of funds & milestones The vital use of a funds slide must convince investors that You know what to do with the money they might give you. You know how to achieve X results. You and the investors are on the same page about it. There are a few ways to go about this. One option is to make a pie chart with the main spending categories, the percentage and dollar amount that will go to each, and a brief explanation of what each category will achieve. For example: 50% / $700k Product development (release an MVP, add new AI capabilities) 30% / $420k Marketing and sales (expand sales and marketing teams, Facebook ads) 20% / $280k Management (hire key C-level team members, etc.) Here is a good example of a use of funds slide for any stage: What’s good about this slide? It shows milestones It shows funds distribution It briefly expands upon the processes Here is another one of the good use of funds examples for mature startups raising their Series A rounds: You can see that this example of uses of funds skips plenty of details, mainly focusing on strategic goals and expansion; thus, this approach might not work for raising pre-seed or seed stage rounds. Traction regarding previous rounds If this is not your first round of raising funds, mentioning the traction gained in previous rounds can help to tip the scales in your favour. By “traction,” we mean a track record of the efficient use of funds you previously raised. As has officially taken the front seat in terms of importance, anyone who can demonstrate it has a real chance to make the investors’ shortlist for a new round. capital efficiency Including the logos of the VC firms or the names of your current angel investors are also good moves. Serving as compelling social proof, they show who has trusted you with their money, motivating others to follow suit. Haven’t raised before? No worries. Investors don’t expect this information if it’s your first raise; after all, there are other ways to early on. Just keep this ace up your sleeve for future rounds. show traction Most common funding ask mistakes to avoid in your slide In the course of talking to founders every day, we at Waveup stumble upon a fair share of poor choices made willy-nilly. We have boiled them down to the three most repeated funding slide mistakes that we help our clients fix in their funding proposals. The sum is pulled out of a hat Way too many founders we meet arrive at their funding amount randomly. One client read in a Medium article that you should always request triple what you need. Another one didn’t estimate his cash burn rate and the investment period correctly, asking for money that would keep him afloat for seven months at best. In determining the use of funds, startups benefit from precision. If your estimate is unreasonably low, you’ll run out of money before reaching your milestones. Asking for too much is no better, either. No one will commit more than the necessary amount unless you show stellar traction and growth. Calculate how much money you need for the next 12–18 months; that’s how long a typical round lasts. This sum is situated between your burn rate, cash flow gap, and runway numbers. To arrive at these figures, calculate the following: How to fix: CapEx, or one-time expenses (licences, machinery) OpEx, or recurring expenses (salaries, marketing, rent) Your NWC, or net working capital Yes, coming up with the right amount can be a tough nut to crack. Some nuances are hard to get right if you aren’t a financial wizard, so we often sit down and calculate them with our clients. This process results in a realistic and defensible sum, therefore the game is worth the candle. Putting all the funds into salaries If only we had a penny for every time we’ve seen founders make this mistake. Yes, we know that at least 60% of the cash you raise will cover salaries (at least at the start), but that’s not what investors want to hear. That’s surely not what’s going to convince them to give you $3M. Instead of funnelling everything into salaries, be more strategic. Manipulate the structure and numbers in your use of funds slide. Distribute the funds evenly across the departments, like in our example at the start. You could also attribute the money to the core activities that will achieve the key milestones (e.g., user acquisition, purchasing licences, etc.). As for the salaries, the more of them you can cover from your future revenue, the better. How to fix: Oversharing your terms Particularly, valuation. There are two reasons why we don’t recommend our clients drop the V-bomb during their pitch deck. First, it can scare off investors who expect a larger piece of the pie, killing the chance to negotiate with them. Or conversely, you’ll end up giving up more than you could’ve. It never hurts to save the conversation about your terms for the after-pitch talk. It includes voicing your valuation, discussing the instrument (preferred shares, convertible notes), minimum ticket, and so on. Best case scenario – you reach an agreement and raise the round. Worst case scenario – you don’t get the money but at least establish a valuable connection! How to fix: Common after-pitch questions from investors What are your cash burn and runway rates? It’s common practice for investors to check if the founders understand how long the round will last. That’s why knowing your maths when coming up with the cash ask is of utmost importance. What positions in the team do you need to fill? Knowing your hires demonstrates that you know the ins and outs of your business. Needless to say, answering this question should be as easy as counting to ten. When are you going to break even? If you don’t mention this as one of your milestones, expect to hear this question. Of course, you should prepare the answer beforehand. Check with the industry benchmarks, and be realistic in your projections, especially if you’re an early-stage startup. Why does so much money go to X? This question can stem from either a negative experience with a given line of expenditures, simple curiosity, or a test of your business acumen. Either way, it can be handy to have an explanation ready. Wrapping up The funding ask provides the momentum of your pitch deck presentation. The stakes are too high to take your chances and rely on guesswork. A well-structured, visually appealing, and persuasive funding ask slide that moves you to negotiations is rarely a result of randomness. No effective pitch deck ever is. That is why it is so important to know your numbers, show how the use of funds will facilitate business growth, keep the visuals simple, and use our examples as a reference.

The Funding Ask Slide: How to Make it Better?

Millions of people have paid tribute to the late monarch in the hours since Queen Elizabeth’s death. But in the darker corners of cyberspace, some NFT and cryptocurrency enthusiasts have sought to make light, and even tremendous profit off of this miserable situation. The death of Queen Elizabeth has sparked the invention of innumerable so-called “meme coins” looking to capitalize on this misfortune occasion. 40+ Queen-related cryptocurrency tokens which are similar to bitcoins have emerged in decentralized exchanges on Ethereum and BNB smart chain. RIP Queen Elizabeth, London Bridge is Down, Save the Queen, QueenDoge, and Queen Elizabeth Inu are to name a few. Cryptocurrencies and meme coins are created with names or likenesses related to newsworthy or viral events in the hope that people will want to purchase and trade with them. And since the news of her Majesty’s death is on hype, several sprang on the opportunity to create Queen-themed coins as a cash grab. Statistics are mind-blowing. Activity on the Queen Elizabeth Inu coin spiked approximately 28.506% in over 24 hours with a trading volume reaching $200,000 (£174,000). As per , the amount was even higher for the ‘Save The Queen’ coin i.e $700,000 (£608,000). Dex Screener With that being said, let’s just start this piece of reading by remembering the Queen. Remembering the Queen Elizabeth II, in full , officially Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, (born April 21, 1926, London, England—died September 8, 2022, Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from February 6, 1952, to September 8, 2022. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Aged 96, the queen is said to have died in peace at Balmoral in Scotland with the current King Charles and Princess Anne at her bedside. Family members including Prince Edward, Prince Harry, and Prince William sadly missed their chance to say goodbye to the queen in person. Irrevocably, jotting one or two paragraphs won’t be able to justify how powerful she was, but let’s move this piece of writing in the direction of its main topic i.e. crypto gamblers, NFT hawkers, and Web3 enthusiasts quickly moved to cash in on the world’s attention as soon as Queen’s death was announced. QueenE, an Ethereum-based NFT project In early July this year, QueenE launched its auctions, offering a single Ethereum NFT portrait in tribute to the late Queen. The project was created by builders , , , and the pseudonymous . It was designed to launch new procedurally generated pieces at a steady clip for the rest of the Queen’s life. Web3 Fabio Sevá Vinícius Rodrigues Everton Matumoto mladen. eth The project forked its format and code from , an inventive NFT project that auctions a single Ethereum-based profile picture every day and admits buyers into an exclusive club—but gave it a royal twist by serving up lo-fi renditions of Queen Elizabeth II instead. Initially, the QueenE auctions occur every few hours but have mostly launched at a once-daily rate. Nouns https://twitter.com/QueenEDAO/status/1567939439992651781/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1567939439992651781%7Ctwgr%5E385923db1a54d705b5a8995f20384eab80e0e9bb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecrypt.co%2F109309%2Fqueen-elizabeth-ethereum-nft-tribute-project-final-auction The project’s Twitter bio now reads, “Rest in Ethereum, forever.” Secondary sales of QueenE NFTs have picked up since the announcement of Queen Elizabeth’s death, and currently the floor price, – that is, the cheapest available item listed on a marketplace – sits at 0.88 ETH or about $1,450 at . OpenSea As with Nouns, the proceeds from primary sales of QueenE NFTs are funnelled into the treasury, which is controlled by a . For those of you who don’t know, DAO is an online group with shared interests and token-based memberships. DAO members can vote on proposals that use the funds (currently 10.10 ETH, or $16,650) for several initiatives. decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) “Queen’s dead. #Bitcoin never dies” Undoubtedly, people were swift to hit back at the Web3 community for its lack of taste surrounding the death of Her Majesty. One of the Reddit users on crypto-hating online forum r/Buttcoin shared a screenshot of a tweet made by MaxKeiser, crypto fund Bitcoin Capital founder, claiming it “new lows”. https://twitter.com/maxkeiser/status/1567938696464187392/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1567938696464187392%7Ctwgr%5E41d19286d725657d5a134d0bbd5851dadb751a8e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2F2022%2F09%2F09%2Fweb3-cash-in-queen-elizabeth-death-flood-crypto-markets-memecoins-nfts%2F One more user named Spooky9999999 called out crypto owners for minting the new coins, jotting the words “insensitive crypto greed strikes again.” Meanwhile, others joked about the future of the new coins. “ElizabethMoonCorgiRocketCoin is the future world currency. Central bankers are shivering as we speak,” Chuckolater comments. My Opinion Without a doubt, the prices of the coins discussed above are extremely volatile and will not be able to sustain any sort of value in the long run. The fact cannot be neglected that cryptocurrency is a completely unregulated marketplace, and the people behind the Queen-based tokens are doing nothing but simply trying to cash in on this moment of extreme sorrow. Innumerable coins that have already been introduced in the crypto market are based on the name of the new King Charles III. In my opinion, it is not an excellent way to capitalize on a significant moment of sorrow in the crypto world. Queen Elizabeth II died, but the crypto community didn’t miss the chance to utilize this opportunity to its benefit. The nation has stepped into a period of official mourning that will last until seven days after the funeral. May her soul rest in peace.

Queen Elizabeth’s death inundates the crypto world with Innumerable NFTs and Meme Coins

Focus On The Problem: When Your First Solution Fails, Simply Start Again

Blockchain technology (BCT) integration within multi-continental supply chains bolsters efficiency, transparency, and traceability and leads to billions in capital savings.(2) . Clearly, the world is waking up to BCTs potential. Blockchain-focused startups saw significant capital investment in Q1 2021 at $2.6B — more than the entirety of 2020 Supply chain management (SCM) professionals fulfill two fundamental roles within an organization. 1) SCM professionals plan, implement, and control activities that deliver value to customers. 2) SCM professionals integrate and coordinate business processes within and across participating firms.(5) A core duty of SCM professionals is in the realm of technological advancement. SCM professionals seek new strategies and maturing modalities to elevate the customer experience and bring new-found transparency to increasingly complex networks.(1) It is essential for organizations to have transparent material tracing, sourcing standard adherence, ethically operating contract manufacturers, and a development process void of child labour.(3) These critical supply chain (SC) attributes become increasingly more viable with BCT intervention. The significance of communication technology and information management is widely acknowledged within the SCM space with industry professionals often embracing new technologies. The fourth industrial revolution brought advances in smart machinery capable of forming self-coordinating systems such as “smart” factories.(5) Discovered within the slipstream of such SCM technological innovations has been a natural convergence with BCT. Kindling won’t sustain the flame Touted for its capabilities of producing a trusted and transparent ledger, BCT has use-cases far beyond cryptocurrency. Nearly in some capacity, showing a keen interest globally in its potential.(2) 82 percent of Fortune 100 companies have dabbled in BCT The proliferation of BCT in SCM happened to intersect with all-time low consumer trust in organizations. Across the globe, . This coincidental convergence may have inspired much of the initial investment in BCT, specifically in the realm of corporate application and integration. Is it enough to keep the ball rolling? nearly 75% of customers, consumers, and clients cite a growing mistrust with their favourite businesses Much of the exciting potential of BCT can be compartmentalized into four key tenets: transparency, validation, automation, and tokenization.(5) Within these tenets lies its disruptive and revolutionary use-cases. Here’s a summary of the defining five. BCT integration can remedy inefficiencies caused by a lack of end-to-end transparency, typically leading to the bullwhip effect, a distribution channel phenomenon characterized by an erratic relationship between consumer demand and inventory volume.(5) BCT enables the automatic recording of an asset’s birth information. Users can record point of creation data, seal the asset’s birth information and changelogs within immutable records, and track the asset content every step along the way. BCT integration, in this vein, would enforce responsible sourcing and enable enhanced detection of counterfeit and other fraudulent behaviour. BCT’s smart contract capabilities could bring new levels of autonomy and efficiency to SCs. In the event of a machine failure, the machine could order the part from the supplier, request maintenance service, and inform downstream participants of inevitable delays. Leveraging BCT’s tokenization capabilities, IT developers could develop a logical representation of physical hardware in software. This approach is more commonly known as “ ” and could increase the utilization and flexibility of IT assets. In addition to leveraging a logical representation of physical hardware in software, SC assets, such as inventory or technical equipment, could be tokenized. or ordering options could be created as a token and circulated outside the typical bi-lateral contractual relationship, allowing the excess product to be monetized. Parties bound to contractual relationships could have newfound contract flexibility and risk reallocation. virtualization Capacity claims BCT integration could expedite settlement conclusions in multi-tier and multi-party contractual agreements and enhance transparency and autonomy, alleviating some burden from accounting departments.(5) BCT has theoretical potential in SCM but has it shown any promise in real-world application? At its conception, BCT garnered significant recognition as a disruptive innovation with SCM. Touted for its potential to cut costs, enhance transparency, and elevate sustainability. It seemed like the next big thing.(2) Unfortunately, much of the existing note-worthy attempts at integrating BCT into SCM have hit a wall. BCT implementations in SCM often get stuck at the demonstration and pilot study stages.(2) Why is this? Is there a core problem with BCT? Is BCT’s nascency impinging on its adoption rate within SCM, or are there fundamental compatibility problems? Organizational sentiment is certainly not the issue, with regarding how highly blockchain is ranked as a strategic priority. Could BCT just not be capable of facilitating SC's ever-growing complexity? Deloitte citing year-after-year increases Despite this, you don’t have to look far to find successful small-scale blockchain integrations. USA-born . This pilot project was powered by the Hyperledger Fabric and required certificate uploads for pork sourced from China and mangoes from the USA. Walmart partnered with IBM in 2016 to tackle traceability lag in the event of food-borne disease The time needed to trace product origins shrunk from seven days to 2.2 seconds. Sounds promising, right? Walmart has since expanded this service to 25 products from five suppliers, bringing more trust and transparency to the food people consume. Walmart announced they had plans to include more products in the network, but little expansion has been done since 2018. North of the border, Canada-based Convergence.tech joined forces with the UN to enhance traceability within the Mongolian Cashmere supply chain. The . Unfortunately, the life of a Mongolian herder or agriculture worker, comprising nearly , is rife with income instability. This is principally attributed to the overgrazing practices of other producers globally and not to cashmere production, which is quite sustainable. Mongolian nomadic community is one of profound pride, with their agricultural trade lodged in the upper echelons of their cultural significance 30 percent of the population in 2011 The UN and Convergence.tech chose Mongolian herders as they are considered some of the most sustainable and ethical in the world. The pilot program involved , subsequently pinned to a virtual map. Since its conception, over 471 kg of cashmere has been funnelled through this system, flowing from nomadic small-scale producers to the doorstep of a willing consumer. over 70 herders and eight cooperatives and utilized an intuitive Android app to register cashmere and RFID tags , a consulting firm pioneering a movement towards transparent supply chains, streamlines the BCT integration process for willing organizations. Provenance envisions a future where every bottle of wine, pair of socks, or smartphone, comes with accessible and trustworthy information regarding its origin, journey, and environmental impact. Trusted by over 200 retailers, with Provenance has proliferated and helped facilitate hundreds of organizational transitions to a more sustainable approach. Provenance detailed case studies listed on their website, Where is the downside? Cited within this article are three successful examples of BCT integration. Despite very positive results, this growth doesn’t come without concerns and unique problems. There are technological, SC-specific, internal, external, and environmental barriers that hinder its adoption. Technological concerns and public perception BCT is still a developing technology and needs advancements in scalability, usability, and interoperability. In addition to these areas of improvement, throughput and latency issues must also be tackled.(2) A substantial obstacle is the level of technological complexity and understanding required to recognize its benefits. Improving BCT's palatability and public perception are two adoption hurdles likely to be spanned with time. Blockchain is most commonly associated with the inexorably linked crypto sector, which some still believe to be rife with illegal activity.(7) Those holding this belief typically point to high-profile incidents such as the Silk Road darknet marketplace shut down in 2013. The FBI seized over 26,000 BTC, and the reputation of blockchain and cryptocurrency took a hit.(7) However, these beliefs are not true. Between the years 2012-2020, less than 1 percent of BTC transactions were cited as having a connection to illicit activity.(7) It can be troublesome for both organizations interested in BCT and “crypto-curious” individuals that have latched onto these incidents to look past these illegal activities. Substantial investments in BTC from firms such as , have served to bring newfound legitimacy to the sector. Successful integration can even be found in the public sector at the was employed to publish grants and funding data. Tesla, Square, and MicroStrategy, in addition to numerous other organizations National Research Council of Canada, where the Ethereum blockchain To what extent have organizations brought blockchain into production? Twenty-three . BCT perceptions are improving. percent of firms noted BCT usage in 2019 and over 39 percent in 2020 Internal organizational barriers Integrating new technology is not a cheap endeavour and requires commitment from C-level executives. It is challenging for small businesses to migrate to a new inventory management program which may only require barcode adjustments and data migration. Can you imagine the perceived complexity for a multi-continental supply chain to incorporate a new form of asset integrity? Costs associated with BCT integration often increase with the organization’s size and make that initial pitch to management a tough pill to swallow.(2) Provenance distills what is ultimately very complex into a palatable, non-offensive elevator pitch that anyone can understand. Further saturation of BCT consulting companies should positively affect adoption rates and further legitimize the technology. External organizational hurdles Despite organizations facing considerable pressure from consumers and central governments to elevate their sustainability efforts, progress has been relatively slow. A lack of a clear, standardized framework for SC sustainability integrations may be impinging on BCT’s potentially disruptive effects.(2) Government regulations and perceptions are still not fully onboard with BCT, reducing adoption benefits.(6) If investing in BCT rewards organizations sustainability “points,” it may inspire more deliberate action. BCT’s global proliferation BCT may still be recognized as a fad that will fail to meet the test of time; just as the technology is immature, so are some developing perspectives. Integrating BCT into SCM is fraught with typical emerging technology growing pains. Risk-averse adopters need to be convinced that their commitment of time and capital will be rewarded through enhanced sustainability, reliability and interoperability. This disconnect presents a lucrative opportunity for consulting firms to facilitate transitions to more sustainable and ethical product delivery systems. Airbnb became the largest hotel chain in only seven years, boasting more than 850,000 rooms without any hotel asset ownership. Between 2012 and 2014, Uber devoured over 65 percent of San Francisco's taxi market. Evolution in AI and robotics is expected to put 47 percent of U.S. workers (nearly 60 million jobs) at risk of being replaced. Over ten million autonomous vehicles per year may enter U.S. highways by the year 2030. What do these all have in common? The power of exponential growth. Is your organization ready to embrace the power of BCT? References Dietrich, F., Ge, Y., Turgut, A., Louw, L., & Palm, D. (2021). Review and analysis of blockchain projects in supply chain management. Procedia Computer Science, 180, 724-733. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2021.01.295 Kouhizadeh, M., Saberi, S., & Sarkis, J. (2021). Blockchain technology and the sustainable supply chain: Theoretically exploring adoption barriers. International Journal of Production Economics, 231, 107831. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107831 Francisco, K., & Swanson, D. (2018). The Supply Chain Has No Clothes: Technology Adoption of Blockchain for Supply Chain Transparency. Logistics, 2(1), 2. doi:10.3390/logistics2010002 Apte, S., & Petrovsky, N. (2016). Will blockchain technology revolutionize excipient supply chain management? Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals. Retrieved April 28, 2021, from . https://jefc.scholasticahq.com/article/910-will-blockchain-technology-revolutionize-excipient-supply-chain-management Blossey, G., Eisenhardt, J., & Hahn, G. (2019). Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management: An Application Perspective. Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. doi:10.24251/hicss.2019.824 Choi, D., Chung, C. Y., Seyha, T., & Young, J. (2020). Factors Affecting Organizations’ Resistance to the Adoption of Blockchain Technology in Supply Networks. Sustainability, 12(21), 8882. doi:10.3390/su12218882 Kirshner, J., Schoenberger, T., & Morell, M. (2021). An Analysis of Bitcoin’s Use in Illicit Finance. Retrieved May 4, 2021.

What's The Weakest Link in Supply Chain Management? Hint: It's Not Blockchain

Image Credit: Reddit In 2013, Pokémon X and Y were published for the Nintendo 3DS. The titles were the sixth generation of games in the franchise and well-received by fans, selling over worldwide. 16 million copies Usually, with each generation, the Pokémon Company releases three games, with the third game improving and adding new features to the previous two games. For example, Platinum was released in 2008 after the release of Diamond and Pearl, and Pokémon Crystal followed Gold and Silver. However, X and Y never got the third game. The supposed Pokémon Z never got released. Instead, the franchise skipped the third installment to start developing Sun and Moon (Generation 7). What is Pokémon Z? Z would have been the third installment in generation 6 of the main series of games. The game would have vastly improved on X and Y, which successfully transitioned the franchise into 3D on the Nintendo 3DS. It is likely that with Pokémon Z, the game would have integrated the franchise further into the 3D space with a fully 3D reimagined world, much like the one present in Sun and Moon. When looking at the franchise’s schedule of releases, Z would have been released around 2015, two years before Sun and Moon. Evidence for a Third Installment A third installment in the franchise would have tied up many loose ends in the sixth generation. For example, your defeat of the evil Team Flare and the team’s boss Lysandre was rather underwhelming, with far greater room for additional storytelling in Z. A third title could have also explored the mysterious AZ, the ultimate weapon, and the supposed Pokémon war in the region. There was considerable room for storytelling, and that likely would have been present in Pokémon Z. Furthermore, the legendary creature Zygarde also points towards a possible third game with the Pocket Monster criminally underused in X and Y. Instead, the monster had more prominence in Sun and Moon with different forms. Traditionally with three games in each generation, three legendaries get the limelight. Zygarde was supposed to be the third in Generation 6. The presence of Zygarde in Sun and Moon points towards the possible existence of Z, with it likely its new forms were supposed to feature in a third installment rather than in a whole new generation. Likewise, Magearna also seems to have been forced into Sun and Moon with the Pocket Monster having a European look resembling the region of X and Y rather than Sun and Moon. Both Zygarde and Magearna seem to have been stuffed into Sun and Moon, pointing towards the existence of Z. Zygarde (Complete form) Credit: Bulbapedia 3 Reasons Why Pokémon Z was Never Released 1.Simply Sales The first reason Pokémon Z was never released was simply down to . Although X and Y sold well, usually, a whole new generation of games sells better than a third installment. When you look at sales across all main series games, not a single third installment of a generation comes in the . Due to this reason, Z was never released and thus was skipped due to potential poor sales. sales top 10 sales of Pokémon games 2.Politics Interestingly as points out, Gamefreak could have bottled the games due to the Paris terrorist attacks, which occurred around a similar release window for a third installment. Z would have been in France, much like its predecessors. Thus, perhaps the games were never released due to the ongoing crises within the nation. GamesSkinny.com 3.Limited Resources and Time Thirdly, Z was probably never released due to a lack of resources and, most importantly, time. Around one year after the company released X and Y, Omega Ruby and Sapphire were released, the long-requested remakes of the original ruby and sapphire. The release of a whole generation alongside full 3D remakes likely gave the Pokémon Company very little time to develop a third game in generation six. As with any popular game, remakes get requested by fans, and the company must have felt intense pressure to release a Ruby and Sapphire remake considering its popularity. Thus, the company funnelled its time and money into the remakes rather than Z and therefore had very little time to develop a new game before the release of a new generation. Limited resources and time is most likely the reason for the lack of a third installment, as evident by X and Y's limited Pokedex, the weakest in the franchise's history. Final Thoughts Overall, Pokémon Z was very likely to have been in the works as the third instalment in generation six. But likely due to economic and, to a lesser extent, political constraints, the game was never released. Perhaps one day, we might find out more about Z. Until that day, for more Pokémon-related news and features, below. subscribe to our newsletter in the footer Also, check out, Top 10 Pokémon Games Ranked by Sales Where to Sell Pokémon Cards Online: 3 Options Injustice Movie Announced

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