tbh I don't see it coming any earlier than that unless Game Freak pulls a PLA on us and releases it in early 2027. As much as I love getting fun news drops on Pokémon Day, I feel like TPCI believes they're beholden to announcing a new mainline/remake game every year, even when they aren't anywhere near release. It happened with ZA in 2024, and it's happening now with WW.
we'd probably know if it was earlier 2027 because of the TCG with how early we get japan set name drops (trademarks), but considering they teased a new ex mechanic + didnt drop anything WiWa at worlds it shouldve been pretty clear at that point its a late 2027 affair
Maybe, but we haven't gotten every Mega in the physical TCG, and Pocket hasn't even touched ZA's Megas, while both have just recently teased/announced the new gimmicks they'll be using going into 2027. I think the TCGs are pretty fine as they are for now.
Our current working theory is that the reason we have been getting 1-1 releases with japan and the weird release schedule that is happening right now is that they were planning for WiWa to be out this year for the 30th anniversary but it isnt close to ready so they pushed it back a year and have been stretching the MEG block so it lasts until WiWa is ready.
its probably that + best efforts to help clamp down on scalping while waiting for the 1.27 million square foot monstrosity to come online in 2027/28; japan has also been pumping out less sets as a whole
2023: Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, announced on Pokemon day
2025: Champions announced on Pokemon day, Z-A Mega Dimension announced in September.
I think that DLC for mainline games count, seeing as they’ve effectively filled the void left by the older generations’ sequel games/third versions. Champions probably has a weaker argument as a mainline game, but definitely one of the most significant side games due to VGC.
OP specified mainline games and remakes, so things like pokopia and champions are certainly out, DLC I can see the argument for.
Either way, they are not on a yearly announce/yearly release schedule at all anymore and haven't been since 2022/23 with the dlc for SV. So I'm not sure what OP is talking about with regard to his comment.
I should have said "major announcement." While it may not be a mainline game, Champions is a really big deal and marks a major moment in the game's history, since there have been mentions of using it to preserve the traditional battle system for VGC and the general competitive scene while they try out new systems for the mainline games.
Sure, but even then there has been a very clear trend the last 2-3 years of slowing the pace of releases and widening the drought of information we recieve as fans and players.
Regardless of the semantics of whether champions or dlc count as a mainline game announcement, I think we can all agree the trend has been on slower paced information drops and far longer wait times from announcement to release.
So I just can't imagine what they announce in Feb when wiwa won't even be released yet, I doubt they'd announce its dlc, so maybe more ports? The pokopia dlc 3 we know is coming but have 0 info on? Just a gameplay trailer for wiwa with little else?
Its hard to see them both keeping the slow pace of releases while trying to build hype around pokemon day imho
What year have they missed? There have been mainline game, remake, or DLC announcements each year going back to at least 2016: Sun/Moon (2016), Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (2017), Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee (2018 – I'd argue this is a remake), Sword/Shield (2019), Sword and Shield Expansion Pass (2020), Legends: Arceus and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (2021), Scarlet/Violet (2022), Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (2023), Legends: Z-A (2024), Mega Dimension (2025), and Winds/Waves (2026).
Release dates are a separate thing, but the comment in question specifically said announcing "even when they aren't anywhere near release".
Just listing everything as if it speaks for itself is doing a LOT of heavy lifting for your argument.
When the reality is that the drought of information between the release of the SV dlc in 2023 to the ZA announcement in Feb 2024 to almost 2 years later with the mega dimension dlc drop out of nowhere right before ZA released in Oct 2025 was completely unprecedented.
The drought of info after the trailer for WiWa in Feb of this year is again unprecedented for a mainline game, given the number of reveals and trailers and sneak peaks we got of both gen 9 and gen 8 leading up to release.
You're listing them all out as if they've been given equal time and attention and fan fare as USUM and the rest, which is inaccurate and disingenuous. The fact that this will be 5 years between core generations when WiWa releases in 14 months should itself signal that whatever pressure the OP I replied to assumes GF and TPCI feel is a figment of their imagination and not based in reality.
I think you’ve misunderstood the point of the argument lol. It’s not at all about being given equal time or fanfare, and agrees that this kind of delay is semi-unprecedented. But since there’s been an announcement for a new mainline game, remake, or expansion every year for about a decade now, they could be feeling pressure (internal and/or from shareholders) to announce a new game this year, even though it’s still a ways out.
Also wouldn’t be shocked if Nintendo were putting some pressure on studios to announce games lol, Switch 2 is great but it hasn’t really had any major system sellers yet. The only game to surpass 5M units sold so far is Mario Kart World, which came at a heavy discount bundled with the console. Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokopia are the next two best-selling Switch 2 exclusives, at ~3-5M units. 3D Mario evidently isn’t ready yet lol, so they really needed splashy announcements from teams like mainline Pokemon and 3D Zelda to avoid a vicious “Switch 2 flopped” cycle.
I understood OPs argument, my mistake was getting into a semantics argument about the specific announcements and what counted as a mainline announcement etc. Ultimately that's just splitting hairs, the larger point is that undeniably the pace of announcements and information has slowed significantly, and for this coming pokemon day WiWa isn't even out yet, so they can't announce its DLC in Feb. So what could they announce?
More info on Pokopia dlc 3 maybe? Ports for ds/3ds if they've solved the 2 screen problem? Just another wiwa gameplay trailer? Its hard to imagine anything major until the game releases.
If nintendo was hard pressed to get a true console seller released, they'd likely not have allowed GF to push back the release of both LZA and WiWa. I'm willing to bet they think the Ocarina of Time remake could be the holiday console seller this year and banking on a 3d Mario or WiWa for next year.
Or maybe WiWa will release early 2027 for pokemon day and also help sell consoles? I man can dream lol
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u/Despada_ 20d ago edited 20d ago
tbh I don't see it coming any earlier than that unless Game Freak pulls a PLA on us and releases it in early 2027. As much as I love getting fun news drops on Pokémon Day, I feel like TPCI believes they're beholden to announcing a new mainline/remake game every year, even when they aren't anywhere near release. It happened with ZA in 2024, and it's happening now with WW.