The mobile version of the game will launch after the Switch version, later in 2026.
This 30th Anniversary Pokemon Day had a lot of wonderful things for fans of the franchise, and Pokemon Champions was a big part of it. Not only did we hear more about the game being included at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships, but we also learned the release window for the Switch version. Pokemon Champions is coming to Switch in April 2026.
The Pokemon Company shared the April 2026 window for Champions’ Switch release during its 30th anniversary Pokemon Day presentation. We don’t have a concrete day yet, but that will be coming very soon. Perhaps just as important, we learned that the Switch and mobile versions won’t be launching at the same time. While the Switch version will launch in April, the mobile version is expected to launch later on in 2026.
It’s a little bit of a shame that mobile players have to wait on Pokemon Champions, but it’s at least looking very promising for Pokemon fans throughout this year. The Pokemon Company stressed once again that Champions would be a part of the World Championship 2026 games and competitions, so there’s plenty of reasons for hardcore competitive fans to be excited. Meanwhile, Pokemon Champions will also work with Pokemon Home, and the Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed re-releases that came to Switch today will also eventually have that same support to bring over friends from the original 151 to games like Champions.
With the developers setting their eyes on April, stay tuned for a concrete release date and an update on mobile via the Pokemon Champions topic.
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TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.
