Pokemon Champions was recently announced during the latest Pokemon Presents event and looks to be a spiritual successor to the Pokemon Stadium series where competitive battling will be held in the future.
As the series edges closer to its 30th anniversary, The Pokemon Company has a lot planned for the coming years. Trainers can expect Pokemon Legends Z-A later this year, as well as new content for Pokemon Go, TCG Pocket, and various other titles in the series.
2026 will also be the likely release year for the tenth generation of games, which would be great timing to go along with the 30th anniversary and would mark the first mainline game to be released on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Prominent Pokemon leaker @CentroLeaks recently took to X to share some thoughts on what we can expect from the upcoming Pokemon Champions that was revealed during the latest Pokemon Presents event.
Centro stated that they believe Pokemon Champions will be a paid title rather than a free-to-play game. This means that, like the more traditional Pokemon games, it will require Nintendo Switch Online to battle against other players.
While this isn’t any different from what players currently need to do to battle other trainers, the release of Pokemon Champions could seemingly add an extra step needed for battling. This will be the case if it becomes the core way competitive battling and the VGC are contested.
Players will be required to purchase the core Pokemon games, such as Scarlet/Violet or the upcoming tenth-generation games. Pokemon Home will also be a requirement to transfer your teams from the main game to Pokemon Champions, along with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to compete. Currently, players only require the main game and the online subscription.
This is backed up by a now removed footnote in the official press release, stating that a Nintendo Switch Online subscription will be required, which can be seen via the Wayback Machine as well as some international press releases,
“Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately), Nintendo Account, and internet required for online features. Membership auto-renews after the initial term at the then-current price unless canceled. Not available in all countries. Terms apply. Nintendo.com/switch/online.”
With this being removed from the English press release, it is possible that this was a generic section in the footnote that was included by mistake and was removed later. But it also could have been removed as no pricing has been made public for Pokemon Champions for both the Nintendo Switch or mobile versions of the game.
Also revealed during the Pokemon Presents event was the first trailer for Pokemon Legends Z-A, showing off gameplay, the Kalos region, and some of the Pokemon and characters, we can expect to see, including the return of Mega Evolutions.
Players also won’t have too long to wait to get their hands on Pokemon Legends Z-A, as it has been announced that the game will launch in late 2025, which is typically in November based on previous releases.
The Pokemon Company also revealed that Pokemon TCG Pocket has surpassed over 100 million downloads and released a brand new Light-themed booster pack and the inclusion of Mega Evolutions later this year.
