Did you know Pokémon was an E-sport? For those who are familiar with the catch ‘em all mechanic from 30 years ago, they have had competitive gaming tournaments where huge cash prizes can be won, since 2009!
The scene has had 4 different branches, including the Video Game championship, Trading Card Game, Pokémon Go and Pokémon Unite. Thousands of people attend tournaments all over the globe where they collect championship points, giving a free invite to the world’s highest ranked players.
The video game championships has recently had a uproar of popularity recently considering instead of playing the newest games, Scarlet/Violet, they started playing on Pokémon Champions, a free to play Nintendo Switch and Mobile game where you can battle Pokémon in singles 3v3, or the more official Nintendo Wide format, Doubles 4v4, where you pick 4 out of the 6 Pokémon to fight in a Best-of-3 format. The other branches, involving the TCG, Go and Unite are also very successful, with 50,000 attendees going to Pokémon Worlds 2026 in San Francisco. The 2027 World’s venue was also announced to be in Tampines, Singapore
Some of Pokémon’s most popular moments are when more unexpected Pokémon win these battles on the big stage. Sejun Park bringing a Pachirisu back in 2014, winning the Masters division is seen as one of the most innovative times in Pokémon’s VGC scene. A lot of creativity is required in using teams, as there’s over 200 unique Pokémon species you have to beat. WolfeyVGC, a well known content creator has also made a name for himself playing Pokémon competitively since 2010, getting a semi final result in 2012 next to what was seen as the greatest player at the time, Ray Rizzo.
Pokémon has been changing a lot lately, considering the formula for the game has been actively changing over the past few years. A lot of Pokémon fans are very excited to find out more information about the new game coming out, Pokémon Winds and Waves, where people finally get into the 10th generation of Pokémon, coming out later in 2027.
Pokémon Champions just started their 7th ranked ladder session, where everyone makes a push for trying to get to the top of the ranked ladder. They are starting to use regulation M-C, where a vast majority of mega pokemon from the most recent game, Pokémon Legends ZA preside. Have you made a push into the ranked ladder? How far have you got? Feel free to share in the comments below!
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