Pokémon Legends: Z-A gets a release date and a July Pokémon Presents could have a huge surprise in store

Today, The Pokémon Company announced a release date for Pokémon Legends: Z-A as well as a date for the next Pokémon Presents presentation in July. Information was also revealed about the distinction between this game’s Switch and Switch 2 versions. Based on this announcement, Pokémon Legends: Z-A will have a $10 upgrade pack, much like many other Switch titles. Pre-orders for Legends: Z-A will go live on June 5th, the same day as the Switch 2 release. The next Pokémon Presents presentation is scheduled for July 22nd, and we can expect to learn more about Pokémon Legends: Z-A before it launches on October 16th.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A has an October release date, and Pokémon Presents is planned for July

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the first original Pokémon game to be released since Scarlet and Violet were released in 2022. Those games had two waves of DLC released in 2023, but there has been no major Pokémon release in 2024, and most of 2025. This is relatively unusual for the franchise, which had a steady annual release for many years. You might even remember that the first game in the Legends series, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, was released earlier in the same year as Scarlet and Violet. Hopefully, this means that developer Game Freak is taking more time with this upcoming game to add polish and ensure it runs more smoothly than the disastrous launch of Scarlet and Violet. However, based on the sentiments expressed about trailers so far, most fans are not holding their breath.

Legends: Z-A is the second game in the Legends series, which broke the usual string of iterations for the larger franchise. In Legends: Arceus, players were sent to the past to create the first Pokédex in a region called Hisui, where wild Pokémon could attack trainers. Legends: Z-A seems to be taking a new approach as well, as the entire game is set within Lumiose City, the capital of Kalos from the X and Y games. Rather than being stuck in the past, this game looks highly futuristic. People can appear as holograms to engage in conversations, areas of the city are designated as comfortable environments for wild Pokémon, and a phone can be used as a glider. Before today, all the information we had on a release date was “late 2025,” so October 16th is even earlier than expected.

It’s rare for The Pokémon Company to give fans this much of a heads up for a Pokémon Presents presentation, and according to Serebii founder Joe Merrick, it is “unprecedented” to get two months’ notice. There is no way to know what this presentation will include, other than updates on Legends: Z-A, but there is one major hint. 2026 will be a major milestone for Pokémon. The original games were released in 1996 in Japan, making next year the game’s 30th anniversary. Scarlet and Violet were the ninth generation of Pokémon games, so this July could easily be our first glimpse at the tenth generation. Brand new games set to be released sometime in 2026 to celebrate the 30th anniversary? It feels like too good an opportunity for the Pokémon Company to miss.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

October 16, 2025

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• Pokemon (franchise)
• The Pokemon Company
• Nintendo Switch 2