Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the next big Pokémon game from its long serving developer Game Freak and publisher Nintendo, is set to release sometime next year - but eagle-eyed fans have noticed that a recently revealed piece of info may indicate that the game is set to come out towards the end of 2025.
As first noted on the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit a couple of days ago, the Pokémon trading card game website PokéBeach revealed that the upcoming TCG set (which is supposed to release in either Q1 or Q2 of 2025) doesn't feature any cards that will tie into the forthcoming release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
Whilst this might not seem like the most concrete news at first, it is important to note that essentially every mainline Pokémon game has made a point of tying their new TCG sets into their releases.
As PokéBeach themselves specified, every mainline game has seen a relevant TCG set release within two months of the games dropping.
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As of now, considering no Mega Evolution or Pokémon Legends: Z-A cards have been announced, this would mean that Pokémon Legends: Z-A likely won't come out until the second half of 2025.
Surprisingly, the response to this news was actually very positive.
As one commenter noted: "I hope that's what they do, and then that's it for Pokemon RPGs in 2025; hold off on Gen 10 until the 30th anniversary in 2026..."
"Really don't want to see them try to force two games out in the same year again..." they continued, "like they did with Arceus and ScarVi in 2022."
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"Oh please let it be true," read another comment, "please let 2024 be a gap year so PLZA and Gen 10 have some more time in the oven."
For those not aware, developer Game Freak have been heavily criticised over the past few years for stretching themselves too thin by trying to release too Pokémon games in too short a timespan. Many believe that this was one of the main contributing factors for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's initially buggy releases.
As many have theorised, hopefully this means that both Game Freak and Nintendo are taking the release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A a bit more seriously.
Perhaps the lower review scores for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, at least in comparison to previous mainline Pokémon games, in some way contributed to this change in tactics.
Topics: Pokemon, Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch