2025 Pokémon World Championships: A step towards the ultimate fan event

This weekend, the Anaheim Convention Center once again became the epicenter of one of the world’s most famous and recognized brands. This venue has hosted events such as PlayStation Experience, D23 and home to BlizzCon for many years. On this occasion, Pokémon was the reason why thousands of people gathered in the halls to play, shop, and spend time with other fans of this franchise. This is how the 2025 Pokémon World Championships unfolded, and these are our impressions.

Back to a familiar place

Anaheim, California, is a place that has been a must-visit destination for more than 10 years of my career, all thanks to its convention center. When it was announced last year in Honolulu, Hawaii, that this would be the next destination, I won’t lie, I felt a little disappointed with how “unexotic” this destination seemed after visiting London, Yokohama, and Honolulu. However, I knew that returning to a more familiar place would give me certain advantages and knowledge about how to get around the area.

Unlike in previous years, we didn’t have as many activities outside the convention center. While in past years we had fairs and activities in the areas surrounding the event venue, this year these types of activities were exclusively part of the event itself. Gone are those nights with drones or the parades of Pikachu and his friends through the streets, which, to some extent, were missed, as they were moments when the reaction of the people could be felt in every corner.

The largest Pokémon Center to date

The Pokémon Center Pop-Up was one of the first activities we carried out, and it was quite significant. The last time the Pokémon World Championship was held in Anaheim in 2017, the entire event took place in a single hall, and on this occasion, the Pokémon Center covered the entire hall. Although this store did not cover exactly 100% of the hall, part of the entrance was dedicated to creating a waiting room for one of the spaces that fans of the brand seek to visit. It was a themed space that made good use of the merchandise prepared for this championship.

How big was the store this year? We had a total of two hours to walk around and see each of the products that filled the shelves this year. Plushies, jackets, hats, and everything in between. On this occasion, to prevent scalpers from getting greedy, many of the items were protected by a raffle that took place before entering. Each reservation gave you the opportunity to select if there was something you wanted from these items, such as the Jigglypuff jukebox or the red Gyarados statue, so we couldn’t see them during our visit. However, as always, it was an impressive experience with new merchandise that you didn’t know you needed.

Walking through the halls of the 2025 Pokémon World Championships

After witnessing the opening ceremony with its musical performances, it was time to experience the competition and the Pokémon experience. As every year, the competition tables filled up immediately to begin the process that, after two days of competition, would take the competitors to the grand final. It is always exciting to see competitors of all ages and from different backgrounds begin to play thanks to the power of a game.

The event also featured familiar spaces, places to exchange cards and merchandise, and the Play Lab section to teach how to play TCG, video games, or Pokémon Unite, as well as Side Event tables where competitors and people interested in learning about the competitive scene could enter contests and mini-tournaments to test their skills in different games.

This time around, some elements we saw last year made a comeback, such as the museum dedicated to the Pokémon World Championships or an art gallery, this time dedicated to the latest TCG expansion, Black Bolt / White Flare. There were also some extra activities related to crafts by appointment, such as assembling Pokémon model kits, as if they were Gundams, and activities such as decorating flower pots or assembling Eevee ears.

Along with this, there were also talks and conferences with content creators and people from different development divisions to discuss both the TCG and the competitive Pokémon scene. And of course, there were also several opportunities to take photos with Pikachu and other Pokémon at different photo opportunities.

However, the most interesting event held this weekend was the cosplay showcase. In fact, I would say that in all these years, this may have encouraged more people to attend in Pokémon-related cosplay. This catwalk featured around 40 people parading as some of the human characters that have appeared in the 29 years of the series’ existence.

The finals step up their game

If anything deserves admiration, it’s the level of production of this year’s finals. The Anaheim Convention Center was used to its full potential, with all the finals taking place in the Arena, located in the northern part of the venue. The place that in previous years hosted StarCraft and Overwatch champions now welcomed a new generation of Pokémon champions.

What was impressive was not only seeing people reacting to the action in the games but also seeing how what was happening on screen was perfectly reflected on the floor where the contestants were participating. Pokémon Unite, Pokémon Go, Pokémon TCG, and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet had an incredible visual representation on an LED floor that managed to convey to viewers the situation of each Pokémon depending on the game in a way that one could only dream of seeing one day.

After the finals and with the winners having lifted their trophies, we also had a closing ceremony filled with dancing and music, along with final announcements from The Pokémon Company President Tsunekazu Ishihara.

What? The Pokémon World Championships are evolving?

One of the most notable details at the closing ceremony was the first preview we got of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships. We already knew that San Francisco would be the next host city and that something big was coming with the upcoming Pokémon anniversaries. Now we have PokémonXP, which will bring the fan experience and competition together in one place.

The details are still vague and somewhat confusing, but we know that next year’s event will be held at the Moscone Center, with the finals taking place at the Chase Center. After what we saw in this year’s finals, we can’t wait to see a competition that brings together not only those interested in the competitive world, but also fans of all ages.

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