Game Freak built Pokémon Champions to preserve classic battles as main series may change

Game Freak developed Pokémon Champions partly to preserve the series' classic turn-based battle system, giving the studio room to change battles in future main-series games. Director Kazumasa Iwao said telling fans everything had changed and to just play the new version "didn't feel right." The free-to-play battle game launched April 2026 on Switch, June 2026 on mobile.