Pokémon World Championships
Current season, competition or edition: 2026 Pokémon World Championships | |
 | |
| Game | Pokémon |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Owner | The Pokémon Company |
| CEO | Tsunekazu Ishihara |
| Divisions |
|
| Headquarters | Bellevue, Washington, U.S. |
| Venue | Varies |
| Website | Play! Pokémon Events |
The Pokémon World Championships is an invite-only trading card game and esports event organized by Play! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from the Pokémon series, including the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon video games and Pokémon Go. Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception of Asia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by the Play! Pokémon program.
History
[edit]The Pokémon World Championships first began with the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 2008, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for the Pokémon video game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC were played with a different game each year, mainly the latest Pokémon game from its main series, up until 2025. From 2026, all VGC tournaments will be played on Pokémon Champions.[8]
In 2013, the Pokémon World Championships marked the first time the tournament would be held outside the usual United States. It took place inside Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia of Canada. The 2015 Championships marked the first tournament to feature a spin-off game in the current tournament rotation, with Pokkén Tournament being included in the list.[9] In 2018, the upper Pokkén Tournament DX was used instead. 2019 added its second addition of a spin-off game series into rotation, Pokémon GO.
The 2020 tournament marked the second time the tournament was hosted outside United States, and the first outside the North America continent. It was announced to be held at Excel London in London, United Kingdom.[10][11] This is likely due to the setting of Pokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the Pokémon World Championships.
The 2020 tournament was originally planned to be held in 2020, but on March 31 that year, in-light with the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was postponed with its 2020 seasons being suspended,[12][13] which proceeds from earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championships[14][15] and part of its season between March and June 2020.[16][17] The tournament was not held in 2021 following another postponement on February 9, 2021, and that tournament ultimately held on August 18-21, 2022.[18]
Prior to the 2022 series, in early January 2022, Play! Pokémon announced the inclusion of a third spin-off game into the competition lineup, Pokémon Unite; four months later, it was announced the Pokkén Tournament would host its last season, thus rotating the latter game out of tournament lineup from 2023 onwards. It marked the newest MOBA game to have an official esports tournament, after League of Legends.
The 2023 Pokémon World Championships marked its third tournament to be held outside United States, the first time to be hosted in their franchise's country of origin, and the first in the Asian region, at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the Kanto region). After the PWC ended, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships would return to Hawaii for the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012.[19] Both the 2025 and 2026 events were held at the state of California, in Anaheim and San Francisco, respectively. The 2026 tournament marked the first time where two separate venues were used for the tournament, with one for the main event and another, Chase Center, would serve as the venue for the Championship Sunday.
At the conclusion of the 2026 event, it was announced that Singapore would host the 2027 event, marking the return of the tournament to Asia for the first time since the 2023 event in Yokohama and the first time Southeast Asia is given the hosting rights, and the fourth overall outside United States.[20] The tournament rules and season lineup were published on September 8, and also announced that Pokémon Unite is rotated out from the tournament rotation. Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese languages for the commentary will also be added towards the current languages for the commentaries.[21]
List of World Championships
[edit]As of 2026, PWC hosted 21 annual tournaments since its first tournament in 2004, except those in 2020 and 2021. They are mostly held across 11 venues from seven different states of the United States. Only four iterations were held outside United States, those being Canada in 2013, United Kingdom in 2022, Japan in 2023, and Singapore in 2027.
| Year | Date | Venue | Hosting location | Format | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main event | Championship Sunday | City | Country | TCG series | Video Game | Spin-offs | |||
| 2004 | August 20-22, 2004 | Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa | Orlando, Florida |  United States |
e-Card Expedition Base Set-EX Hidden Legends | N/A (not held) | N/A (no games) | ||
| 2005 | August 19-21, 2005 | Town and Country Resort and Convention Center | San Diego, California | EX Ruby & Sapphire-EX Emerald | |||||
| 2006 | August 18-20, 2006 | Hilton Anaheim | Anaheim, California | EX Hidden Legends-EX Holon Phantoms | |||||
| 2007 | August 10-12, 2007 | Hilton Waikoloa Village | Waikoloa Village, Hawaii | EX Deoxys-Diamond & Pearl | |||||
| 2008 | August 15-17, 2008 | Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista | Orlando, Florida | EX Holon Phantoms-DP Majestic Dawn | Pokémon Diamond and Pearl | ||||
| 2009 | August 13-15, 2009 | Hilton San Diego Bayfront | San Diego, California | Diamond & Pearl-HG Unleashed | Pokémon Platinum | ||||
| 2010 | August 13-15, 2010 | Hilton Waikoloa Village | Waikoloa Village, Hawaii | Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver | |||||
| 2011 | August 12-14, 2011 | Hilton San Diego Bayfront | San Diego, California | DP Majestic Dawn-Black & White | Pokémon Black and White | ||||
| 2012 | August 13-15, 2012 | Hilton Waikoloa Village | Waikoloa Village, Hawaii | HeartGold & SoulSilver-BW Dark Explorers | |||||
| 2013 | August 9-11, 2013 | Vancouver Convention Centre | Vancouver, British Columbia |  Canada |
Black & White-BW Plasma Freeze | Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 | [22] | ||
| 2014 | August 15-17, 2014 | Walter E. Washington Convention Center | Washington, D.C. | United States |
BW Next Destinies-XY Flashfire | Pokémon X and Y | [23][24] | ||
| 2015 | August 21-23, 2015 | Hynes Convention Center | Boston, Massachusetts | BW Boundaries Crossed-XY Roaring Skies | Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire | Pokkén | |||
| 2016 | August 19-21, 2016 | San Francisco Marriott Marquis | San Francisco, California | XY Kalos Starter Set-XY Steam Siege | [25] | ||||
| 2017 | August 18-20, 2017 | Anaheim Convention Center | Anaheim, California | XY Primal Clash-SM Burning Shadows | Pokémon Sun and Moon | ||||
| 2018 | August 24-26, 2018 | Music City Center | Nashville, Tennessee | XY BREAKthrough-SM Celestial Storm | Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon | [26] | |||
| 2019 | August 16-19, 2019 | Walter E. Washington Convention Center | Washington, D.C. | Sun & Moon-SM Unbroken Bonds | Pokkén, GO | [27] | |||
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | SM Ultra Prism-SWSH Darkness Ablaze | Pokémon Sword and Shield | [28][29][30] | |||||
| 2021 | SM Team Up-SWSH Chilling Reign | [31] | |||||||
| 2022 | August 18-21, 2022 | ExCeL London | London, England |  United Kingdom |
Sword & Shield-SWSH Crown Zenith | Pokkén, GO, UNITE | [32] | ||
| 2023 | August 11-13, 2023 | Pacifico Yokohama | Yokohama, Kanagawa |  Japan |
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet | GO, UNITE | [33][34] | ||
| 2024 | August 16-18, 2024 | Hawai'i Convention Center | Honolulu, Hawaii | United States |
SWSH Brilliant Stars-SV Prismatic Evolutions | [19] | |||
| 2025 | August 15-17, 2025 | Anaheim Convention Center | Anaheim, California | Scarlet & Violet-ME Ascended Heroes | [35] | ||||
| 2026 | August 28-30, 2026 | Moscone Convention Center | Chase Center | San Francisco, California | SV Temporal Forces-ME Perfect Order | Pokémon Champions | [36] | ||
| 2027 | August 13-15, 2027 | Singapore Expo | Singapore Indoor Stadium | Singapore |  Singapore |
TBA | GO | [37][38] | |
Qualification
[edit]The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. "Day 2") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. "Day 1").
Play! Pokémon program
[edit]Players located in a country with a Play! Pokémon program (i.e. in North America, Europe, Latin America and Oceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season.[39]
In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents of Latin America and Asia (except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced that Asia would no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships.[40]
As of September 1, 2026, the list of territories in each rating zone sanctioned to organize Play! Pokémon events are as follows:[41]
| North America | Latin America | Europe | Oceania | Middle East and Africa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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