Live Service Pokemon is Embarrassing

By Real Life Fake Wizard

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The year is 2026, and that marks the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. To celebrate this milestone, we got two games released this year. The first is the lovable, immersive, cozy game, Pokemon Pokopia. And the second, released on April 8, 2026, is the live service PvP and esports-focused Pokémon Champions. Developed by The Pokémon Works, which is a new joint venture between The Pokémon Company and ILCA, Champions was marketed as the definitive competitive Pokémon experience: a free-to-start battle simulator that would become the official platform for the Video Game Championships (VGC), including the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, which are later this year. This game was supposed to be the future of competitive Pokémon. Instead, it arrives as one of the most embarrassing product launches in the franchise’s history. Pokémon Champions, as shipped on April 8, 2026, represents a failure across every measurable business axis: technical performance, content delivery, competitive i

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