Pokémon World Championships 2026 has come to an end (Image: POKEMON)
It’s an evergreen statement: Pokémon is popular. And it’s somehow getting bigger each year. The Pokémon World Championships were held in San Francisco, California, earlier this month with around 50,000 attendees arriving in the American city over three days. That’s more people than two O2 Arenas, all celebrating pocket monsters, their trainers, and rooting for their favourite sportspeople on the world’s stage.
And 2026 was a banner year. For the first time, the World Championship finals were held at the Chase Center Arena, where around 18,000 people watched the thrilling finals unfold live. Over the weekend, more than 2,600 competitors battled it out to become Pokémon masters (and for prize monies totalling more than $2million). In the end, trainers from around the world were crowned Pokémon Masters – including 16-year-old British hopeful Vikram Thiagarajan, who won the Senior Division of the video game championships. This thrilling event at the Chase Center wasn’t all that was on offer at the Pokémon world championships this year, though.
Pokémon XP had the first of its kind event this year (Image: POKEMON)
2026 also marked the first-ever Pokémon XP event. What is that, one might ask? Well, it’s a lot of things. All in all, it’s one part convention and one part announcement engine.
Pokémon XP was held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, and welcomed approximately 50,000 attendees over the weekend of August 28-30, 2026. Here, fans of the franchise traded cards, bought exclusive merchandise, engaged in friendly competition, and saw panels from Pokémon collaborators such as Aardman and LEGO.
This first of its kind event felt more like a D23 or a Blizzcon than anything else–a place where new announcements were to be made live on stages and discussed on panels. And the incredible attendance numbers are not lost on the company’s bosses, either.
“We’re really pleased with what we’re seeing so far,” said Chris Brown, Director of Global Esports and Events at The Pokémon Company International (TPCi). “And I think the attendees [are too], they’re smiling a lot!”
Brown couldn’t stop smiling, either. Having hand-crafted the first-of-its-kind expo alongside the first-ever spot at the Chase Center, Brown has been working up to this for years. “Honestly, I’m very fortunate,” he went on. “I do think I’ve got my dream job. I do think I may have the best job in the world. Being able to work with a great team of people to put together a show for fans that are honestly as loving and caring as Pokémon fans are, that’s… it’s a joy, it really is.” He went on to add: “Walking around the show, I try to talk to attendees where I can, see what their experience is, what’s not working, what’s working.”
Pokémon World Championships will next year take place in Singapore (Image: POKEMON)
That isn’t to say everything went perfectly at Pokémon XP, though. Hugely popular pin rallies were cancelled on Sunday (the convention’s final day) following excessive queues lined up around the convention center, and queues for some of the attractions (such as the Pokémon 30th Anniversary booth) were constantly being cut off. Despite these slight hitches in Pokémon XP, Brown was keen to point out he will be learning and adapting in the future. “There are learnings we get [in] every show we do,” he said. “The key to any good show management is you do your best to plan, but then when 50,000 people like this show has come and actually experienced things, there’s going to be things that don’t work out well.
“There’s some stuff we’re going to try to fix in the moment, make some rearrangements, move things around. There’s other things that it’s like we just didn’t get it right, and we’re gonna have to figure out, you know, how do we fix that in the future?”
Still, these minor issues can be pushed aside. Especially when the rest of the show went so well – and when one thinks about the cultural impact of the event.
The Pokémon World Championships opening ceremony brought the music of the classic video games to life with a live orchestra, while the closing ceremony featured performances from Loren Allred (of The Greatest Showman fame) and Ed Sheeran. Apparently he’s a big Pokémon fan, as well.
Looking forward, 2027’s World Championships are sure to be even bigger and better. For reference, the 2016 Pokémon World Championships coaxed around 4,000 people to the show. This year reached a staggering 50,000.
Next year will see the competition being held in Singapore (with two venues lined up; the Singapore Expo, and Singapore Indoor Stadium), so that number could increase a significant amount, as well.
Chris Brown noted they are “definitely going to think about the future” when it comes to the next show, and “how they want to evolve the experience”.
This year certainly evolved the Pokémon World Championships, but it doesn’t feel like we’re anywhere near its final stage just yet.
