Image: Pokémon Company
During the Pokémon Presents stream, Nintendo announced a new Pokémon battle-focused game called Pokémon Champions.
The Pokémon Company announced a new Pokémon game called Pokémon Champions during the Pokémon Presents stream on Pokémon Day 2025. The new game will be available for Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Pokémon Champions will focus on Pokémon battles, rather than the mainline games' gameplay loop of catching and collecting Pokemon.
Pokémon Champions also supports the use of Pokémon Home as a hub. The feature will most likely be used to support players who use mobile devices to play the new game. As it supports the use of Pokémon Home, it is assumed that players can carry over their Pokémon from previous Pokémon games, along with the Pokémon they eventually partner with in Champions.
However, not all Pokémon will be available when the game launches. It will most likely get regular updates to bring in more Pokémon from the franchise's many available generations.
Pokémon Champions will be developed by a team called The Pokémon Works, a development group founded by both The Pokémon Company and ILCA. The team was established on March 2024 to assist on development for Pokémon games and related services.
While the announcement of Pokémon Champions looked promising, this is not the first time Nintendo tried to bring Pokémon battles to a wider audience. Previously, the company attempted as much with the release of Pokémon Battle Revolution, bringing a more gimmick-laden style of Pokémon Battles to players, and omitting the role-playing aspect of regular Pokémon games.
However, Pokémon Battle Revolution was not received well by fans who wanted a more exploration-focused Pokémon game. It also didn't have proper online functionality to support the battle-focused game, resulting in a barebones and repetitive gameplay experience.
Pokémon Champions is currently in development. No release date was announced during the stream.
