The Pokemon World Championships have only been held outside of North America once since its inception back in 2004. Now, the 18th PWC will make history as the second straight iteration of the prestigious tournament to be held in a different country. More importantly, it's not just any nation we're talking about - it's where Pokemon originated.
Surprisingly enough, the PWC has never been held in Japan. This will change in 2023 after it was announced that the event will be hosted in Japan next year.
The 17th PWC dropped a heartwarming callback video to confirm the venue change as it showcased Vermillion City from the Kanto region in the original pair of Pokemon games, Red and Blue, which were originally inspired by Yokohama.
Moving the venue to Yokohama is definitely interesting. Unfortunately, it's not clear which games we'll see at the 18th PWC. Most likely, we'll see the Pokemon Scarlet as well as Violet take their place on the competitive circuit. Pokemon TCG is also another fixture.
The popular trading card game will see its first SV expansion in early 2023 so we're excited to see what kind of meta changes will happen in the lead-up to the congregation of the best Pokemon players in the world. Finally, we're expecting Pokemon UNITE and Pokemon Go at the next PWC for the second straight year.
Now announcing the destination for #PokemonWorlds 2023… pic.twitter.com/A30tFZoybW
— Play Pokémon (@playpokemon) August 21, 2022
Unfortunately, the announcement came with some bad news. The Pokemon Company has confirmed that the Pokken Tournament Championship Series has run its course. The Pokken Tournament DX will not be returning at the 2023 PWC.
Keep an eye out for announcements related to the 2023 PWC in early next year.
Speaking of Pokemon, we just got a competitive-focused trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The pair of mainline Pokemon games are expected to hit store shelves on November 18.
