Pokemon Champions is releasing tomorrow, except some of you won’t have to go to sleep before you play it for the first time. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have confirmed that the newest Pokemon game will be released simultaneously worldwide, which means in some regions, Pokemon Champions will technically be available to play before the end of the day.
Nintendo games typically release at midnight on their release day, like most other games. However, Pokemon Champions is entirely dependint on online play, so it will need as many players as possible at launch to make sure we’re all battling each other. I’m sure it’s going to be big enough that that wouldn’t have been a problem even with a staggered release, but that’s not what we’re getting.
When Pokemon Champions Will Be Released In Different Timezones
Pokemon Champions will be released at 3 am UTC (thanks, Serebii). For those who aren’t walking clocks that know all timezone differences, that’s 11 pm EST, which is why, technically, those of you on the East Coast will be able to begin your Pokemon Champions journey today rather than tomorrow.
That means those of you in other US timezones will have even more time with Champions before you go to sleep, depending on when your bedtime is, of course. Pokemon Champions will be available to play at 10 pm CT, and 8 pm PST. No, you’re not really getting the game early, but it’s definitely an advantage over other Pokemon fans in parts of the world where they’re either going to have to stay up very late or wake up very early tomorrow if they want to be among the first to play it.
Pokemon Fans Are Struggling To Identify The Silhouettes Shown In Latest Champions Trailer
There are three silhouettes in the new Pokemon Champions trailer, and fans can’t decide on which Pokemon they might belong to.
You can find a list of release times for Pokemon Champions in different parts of the world to confirm when exactly you will be able to start playing.
- 3 am UTC (April 8)
- 11 pm EST (April 7)
- 10 pm CT (April 7)
- 8 pm PST (April 7)
- 4 am BST (April 8)
- 4 am CET (April 8)
- 12 pm JST (April 8)
- 1 pm AET (April 8)
The Pokemon Company Wants Champions To Be Its Forever Game
The arrival of Pokemon Champions will usher in a new era for the series, or at least that’s what The Pokemon Company is hoping. Champions will be the go-to for competitive play moving forward, rather than whatever the latest mainline games are. Its creators have already commented on how they hope the game lasts as long as Pokemon does, getting the fanbase’s hopes up by mentioning a day when there might be 10,000 Pokemon.
Unless it ups the pace at which new Pokemon are revealed, we’ll hit that milestone in roughly 300 years.
There are going to be metas we all try to conform to and discoveries we make the more we play, and it all starts either tomorrow or tonight, depending on where you are in the world. Assemble your teams in Pokemon Home, or prepare to go find your daily Pokemon if you’re starting from scratch. A new way to play Pokemon is now only a few hours away.
- Released
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April 8, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone / Mild Fantasy Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
