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For Worlds 2025, in particular, Radio Times was invited out with a load of other outlets and content creators to see just how Anaheim’s version marks a major turning point for Pokémon’s competitive scene, as one of the most ambitious gaming events out there becomes a must.

What is Pokémon Worlds?

For the uninitiated, Pokémon Worlds is the annual summit where the year’s top players across multiple formats from the regional levels – Video Game Championships (VGC — Scarlet & Violet, in this case), the Trading Card Game (TCG), Pokémon GO, and Pokémon UNITE – compete for world titles.

Among those formats, there are also three brackets each: Junior for up to 12 years old before the start of the tournament season, Senior for 13-16, and Masters for 17+.

Then, along with a pretty Pikachu trophy and unique card if you take fourth place or higher, there’s a cash prize of up to $50,000 up for grabs as well.

Yet, it is also much more than a competition. The event functions as a hybrid of festival, convention, and global reunion, offering opportunities for casual fans and seasoned competitors alike to immerse themselves in every facet of the Pokémon universe.

At the Anaheim Convention Center, for example, Worlds 2025 transformed the venue into a living showcase of the brand.

Beyond the competition halls and incredible opening ceremony featuring performances from musicians like NateWantsToBattle, there were side event tournaments that both fans and Worlds dropouts can take part in.

There were also Play Lab sessions to teach newcomers how to play the card game and Scarlet & Violet competitively, a cosplay showcase, a museum featuring past Pokémon games and Worlds winners, a TCG art gallery, community panels from big fandom names like Joe Merrick (Serebii), a giant Miraidon motorcycle, poster signings with talented TCG artists, the opportunity to buy extra merch and very, very expensive merchant cards, and tons more interactive experiences — the Pokémon world, at Worlds, felt like our (Cl)oyster.

Even before the tournament week, however, we were offered some amazing extra experiences. Not only were we given an early walkthrough of the new Pokémon Centre pop-up store, packed with plenty of merch exclusive to Anaheim’s Worlds, but we were also among the first in the world to have a hands-on preview with the upcoming Pokémon: Legends Z-A game (take that, Gamescom).

A festival as much as a tournament

The sheer variety of activities alone sets Pokémon Worlds like Anaheim’s apart from other franchise-dedicated gaming events.

While competitors from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th August battled it out, spectators had plenty of other bits to enjoy, like watching the first couple of days’ tournaments on huge monitors throughout the centre, dedicated spaces for card and pin trading, a cosplay showcase, more side-event tournaments, their own chance to play the latest games like the Legends: Z-A demo, and Black Bolt & White Flare art showcase — all underscoring how the Championships now cater to both competitive and casual audiences.

Still, it turns out everything before Sunday 17th was a warm-up, since all four of the finals held in the Anaheim Convention Center’s arena was truly the cherry on top that took our breath away.

A first for Pokémon Worlds and the franchise’s tournament scene in general, each match was set in the middle of a glorious centre battleground — surrounded by thousands of fans in the audience, elevated by spectacular LED-lit staging, lively commentary, and dazzling stage effects — painting the artistry of Pokémon battles into the shade of epic global sporting events we always imagined them to be playing in Pokémon Silver in 2001.

I said it before on my Instagram at the time, and I’ll say it again: I finally understand what football, wrestling, and F1 fans are going on about when I say this is the atmosphere you want to be in if you’re a fan.

Even without getting into the nitty-gritty of this year’s Pokémon Worlds statistics, its growing reach seems clear. Thankfully, we have those anyway.

As shared with us by PR reps from The Pokémon Company International, Pokémon Worlds 2025 saw nearly 2,500 competitors from 48 countries and regions join over 25,000 attendees representing more than 60 regions, all supported by a staff contingent of more than 1,500 personnel.

Insights from the organisers

While those numbers are certainly huge, with the larger spotlight on Pokémon’s steps into the new era of its games – the upcoming generation 10, new Switch 1 and 2 games, and the ever-expanding variety of the TCG with new sets – we can’t help but wonder about the future.

In a roundtable interview with Chris Brown, The Pokémon Company International’s director of global esports and events, we personally asked about the event’s growth and where he sees Pokémon’s competitive scene, including Worlds, going within the next five years.

With far-in-advance logistics aside, Brown sounded very optimistic, explaining: “Our hope is sort of healthy growth every year.”

He elaborated further: “In Europe, this past season, our regional championships averaged over 3,000 attendees. I think we’re over almost 2,000 players per show. I think we’re going to grow that significantly, actually, this upcoming year.” (They did.)

“The team, how we approach that is, you know, sort of looking at [what] year to year is like. ‘What did we do last year?’ ‘Was it a sell-out for this age division? OK, well, how much demand was there?’ and then we try to project it.

“Five years out, my hope would be maybe we double. Maybe in Europe, for example, we’re seeing, instead of 3,000 [at] attendee events, maybe there are six or 7,000 [at] attendee events. Five years from now, I could only hope.”

What’s next for Pokémon Worlds 2026?

While that 100 per cent+ boost over the next half-decade sounded like a hefty aspiration, it wasn’t that hard to understand the reasons for it once we understood what came next.

After the nail-biting finals of Worlds’ VGC tournament (an incredible match between Giovanni Cischke vs James Evans you should watch, by the way) soon followed the closing ceremonies — not only including new content trailers for the TCG, Legends: Z-A, GO, TCG Pocket and Unite, but also an exciting trailer for Pokémon Worlds 2026 in San Francisco.

We already knew this going in, but we didn’t know the fact that Anaheim was merely a test for what The Pokémon Company is planning for the next American-bound World Championships.

Alongside the finals set to be held in the Chase Center, an NBA-calibre arena that dwarfs even Anaheim’s impressive set-up, it will also debut PokémonXP — a new fan-centric programme blending panels, workshops, guest appearances, and exclusive stores, providing attendees with more varied ways to engage.

Essentially, everything we spent doing in the earlier days ahead of Worlds was a sort of trial version for what this new appetiser event for next year’s Worlds is going to be.

And quite frankly, it’s a damn good time that makes the ultimate Pokémon esports event even better.

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