Pokemon Champions says it's not „pay-to-win,” but that might not be entirely accurate

Today, during the 24-minute Pokémon Presents presentation, we finally got a deeper dive into Pokémon Champions. So far, it seems this new game will primarily serve as a battle simulator. There doesn’t appear to be any in-game content other than building a team of Pokémon and battling other players. As someone who’s been playing the Pokémon games for a long time, this is a huge step forward for competitive battles, but of course, leaves me with one major worry.

Pokemon Champions looks like the best competitive battle simulator, but it might have a major flaw

Pokémon Champions is set to release in 2026. From the official Pokémon website, “Get ready to experience everything you love about Pokémon battles all in one place… This new, battle-focused game will feature familiar mechanics… creating an environment conducive to rich and varied strategies for new and experienced Trainers alike.” Players will be able to connect to Pokémon Home to bring their personal team directly into Champions, or recruit Pokémon directly in-game. Champions will feature three modes of battle, Ranked, Casual, and Private, giving players multiple ways to play. This seems like a major step forward in providing players with easier access to the competitive scene, but even though Champions claims to not be pay-to-win, it might not be telling the whole story.

From the official Pokémon website, “Victory Points (VP) can be gained from Ranked Battles and other places in Pokémon Champions. You’ll need VP to recruit and train Pokémon.” So, while Champions does make the process of building a competitive-ready Pokémon much easier, it’s not completely freeform. Changing a Pokémon’s ability? That’ll cost you 400 VP. Learning a new move? 100 VP. Changing natures? 200 VP. Recruiting a Pokémon? 1,000 VP. While many of the traditional hurdles to training a competitive Pokémon team are gone, The Pokémon Company couldn’t help but keep something in place, and that might hurt them in the long run.

The various costs of training a Pokemon.Pokemon Champions, Developer: The Pokemon Works

At the bottom of their website, The Pokémon Company tried to put to rest any fears of a “pay-to-win” scenario. “VP cannot be directly purchased, so keep battling and gaining VP to power up your team even more!” This is great, because being able to directly purchase VP would have been terrible. But I don’t think it completely stops Pokémon Champions from avoiding this common problem in modern games.

The cost of recruiting a Pokemon.Pokemon Champions, Developer: The Pokemon Works

If recruiting a Pokémon costs 1,000 VP, that means recruiting a team of six will cost 6,000 VP. That’s not even factoring in the cost of training. How accessible will that amount of VP be? We don’t know yet. But some players might think to themselves, “I’ll just use Pokémon Home rather than recruiting.” This is likely a viable strategy, and it might avoid the high cost of recruitment. But keep in mind that to do this, you’ll need a Nintendo console, at least one other Pokémon game, and a Pokémon Home subscription. So, if using Pokémon Home allows you to skirt the in-game currency, in a way, this does make Champions pay-to-win.

You could only use Pokémon GO, a free app that does connect to Pokémon Home, reducing the cost. However, this will leave you much more limited in your options, as many of the Pokémon introduced in recent games have yet to arrive in Pokémon GO. So yes, you could use this and only use the Pokémon Champions in-game recruitment options, but that doesn’t deny that it would be easier to buy the mainline games and have easier access to a wider variety of Pokémon. Even though you can’t spend money in Pokémon Champions, it seems like spending money outside of it makes the process a lot easier.

Either recruit Hydrapple, or transfer from Scarlet & Violet DLC.Pokemon Champions, Developer: The Pokemon Works

This is a common problem in current competitive play. To keep up with other competitors on a high level, players will need to not only go through the training process but purchase multiple games. There are a handful of Pokémon you can only capture in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but are still relevant to the current Scarlet and Violet metagame, such as Sneasler and Ursaluna. Players need to pay for two premium $60 games, the Scarlet and Violet DLC, plus the Pokémon Home subscription, to be at their most competitive. Pokémon Champions doesn’t look like it will change this aspect entirely.

Either recruit Sneasler, or transfer from Pokemon Legends: Arceus.Pokemon Champions, Developer: The Pokemon Works

The Pokémon Company is a business that is trying to make money, so it’s hard to blame them for wanting to do so. However, this practice could ultimately limit the ability for new players to enjoy Pokémon Champions in the long term. Limiting creativity and accessibility to any degree is not great for a competitive game.

I don’t mean to be a complete downer on Pokémon Champions. Overall, I do think this is a monumental step forward in terms of accessibility for the casual Pokémon fan to try out competitive battling. I just wish The Pokémon Company had gone the extra step to make it completely accessible.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Pokémon Champions, and this is a lot of speculation. But I would be shocked if players still had to spend a similar amount of Victory Points to recruit their Pokémon Home transferred Pokémon. With a 2026 release window, we will likely learn a lot more about this game sometime in the future.

• Pokemon (franchise)
• The Pokemon Company