Pokemon Pokopia will launch for Switch 2 on March 5, 2026 for $69.99, The Pokemon Company and developers Game Freak and Koei Tecmo announced.
Digital pre-orders are available now via Nintendo eShop. Physical edition pre-orders will begin on November 13 in Japan.
The physical edition will ship on a game-key card worldwide, as revealed by a new video about game-key cards (English, Japanese) released today by Nintendo.
Pokemon Pokopia launches March 5, 2026
https://www.gematsu.com/2025/11/pokemon-pokopia-launches-march-5-2026
13 Comments
slimerancher@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 300d
I haven't watched the Game key card video but very disappointing that game isn't fully on cart.
Nintendo is pretty good about their first party stuff, why do they don't go for same level of polish and quality for Pokémon stuff?
TAG@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 300d
Pokemon is not a first party title, so it does not have to follow first party title rules.
Game Freak is a third party studio. Apparently their next game is going to Xbox, PlayStation, and Windows but not the Switch.
The Pokemon IP is jointly owned by Game Freak, Nintendo, and Creatures Inc. Nintendo probably has the majority vote in that arrangement, but they still need to act in the best interest of all shareholders.
brsrklf@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 299d
Not the first time it happens too.
They made a seemingly simple 2D cartoon-style game called Tembo the badass elephant that could probably run on anything, and didn't port it on either Wii U (not surprising) or 3DS (a bit more surprising).
The way they framed that was hilarious (and obviously, a lie). They said they were making the promotional art, with the title card, they added platform logos, XBox One, PS4, Steam... and it looked good like this so they decided, yeah, let's stop there.
slimerancher@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 299d
Yeah, this jointly owned stuff should be the reason. I should look up some more info about how this all internally works.
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 7 pts · 300d
I was interested in this game but a 70€ GKC is a nope for me. Even if it were a proper physical release, that price seems way too high for the kind of game it is.
TORFdot0@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 300d
The game isn’t even actually on the cartridge and they are selling it for the same price as a real Pokémon game? I imagine it will end up like the poke park games where no one plays them. Except you can still play the poke park discs on your Wii. When the switch 2 servers go down in a decade. This game becomes lost media
De_Narm@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 300d
The price tag doesn't sit right we me, but I'm still interested. It's developed by Omega Force, which also worked on Dragon Quest Builders 2, which I thought was phenomenal. Although, I'd much rather see a 3rd game of that series, this could scratch a similar itch.
MimicJar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 300d
That's exactly what I'm thinking and hoping. I'll have to wait for the reviews and longer gameplay, but if it's Dragon Quest Builders + Pokemon then it should be a fun game.
heythatsprettygood@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 300d
£58.99 (UK price) is the same price as Legends Z-A, despite Pokopia seemingly being a smaller side game. Even if the game is good, there is no way it's going to sell well at that price to anyone other than die-hard Pokemon fans. Persona 5 Tactica (which I really like) did the exact same thing (full game price for smaller side game) and it did not end well, copies of Tactica still linger on clearance to this day for sometimes less than 20% of the original price since a lot of the launch excitement evaporated.
SmileyBMM@piefed.social · 2 pts · 300d
I do not understand why Nintendo is so afraid of selling games for less than full price, this game would sell a lot better if it had an MSRP of $50 instead of $70.
woelkchen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 300d
A friend of mine buys every Pokemon game and described this (tounge on cheek) as a compulsive mental illness of theirs.
slimerancher@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 299d
They do variable pricing, like Mario vs Donkey Kong was $40 IIRC, but not as much as they should.
BlackVenom@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 300d
Wow! They really have come a long way with graphics on the GameCube. Good to see all those PokeDollars going into their big IP.