A new game to shuffle your favourite Pokémon teams is coming in April.
It’s a good day for players craving more competitive Pokémon battles. The Pokémon Company has confirmed that Pokémon Champions, a battle-focused spin-off developed by The Pokémon Works, will launch in April 2026.
The announcement came during the February 2026 Pokémon Presents broadcast, alongside a fresh trailer that offered the clearest look yet at the game’s arena-based combat and multiplayer focus.
Pokémon Champions will arrive first on Nintendo Switch this April, with iOS and Android versions set to follow later in the summer, opening the doors for cross-platform competition.
A new battle arena in the heart of Frontier City
“Pokémon love to compete with each other and battle alongside people,” the trailer subtitles read, as the camera sweeps into a vast, glowing stadium. “And this is where the best come to battle: the Battle Arena in the city of Frontier. Within this arena, Pokémon Trainers face each other in fierce battles day and night.”
The narration continues by framing Frontier City as a global hub for elite trainers, where only the strongest earn the title of Pokémon Champion, a name said to be respected across the entire Pokémon world.
Thematically, Frontier City appears to draw inspiration from the iconic Battle Frontier introduced in Pokémon Emerald, reimagined as a massive modern metropolis built entirely around competitive play.
Pokémon Champions was first unveiled in February 2025, where it was introduced as a multiplayer-first experience centred almost entirely on Pokémon battles. Instead of traditional story progression, the focus here is squarely on building teams, refining strategies, and climbing the competitive ladder. Players will be able to recruit new Pokémon directly within the game, as well as transfer existing Pokémon through Pokémon Home, letting veterans bring familiar partners into the new arena.
Gameplay in Pokémon Champions revolves around building and training teams using Victory Points, earned mainly through competitive play. Players can trial Pokémon daily before committing to permanent recruits, while the same currency is used to boost stats, fine-tune moves, and shape team strategies. Once ready, trainers can jump into ranked, casual, and private battles, balancing serious competition with room to experiment and play with friends.
Pokémon Champions confirmed for Pokémon Championships 2026
Pokémon Champions has also been confirmed as part of Pokémon Championships 2026, taking place from 28 to 30 August, 2026, just four months after the game’s release on Nintendo Switch. The game will replace Scarlet and Violet as the featured tournament title, signalling a new direction for top-level Pokémon competition.
Pokémon Champions launches in April 2026 on Nintendo Switch.
