Leaks show the Pokemon World Championship could become PokeCon

Seems like a recent shift to turn Pokemon The World Championship, which has become a more general Pokemon convention, is taking its next steps, at least according to leaked information about upcoming events.

As part of the ongoing Game Freak Teraleaks, some details about upcoming Pokemon World Championship events were discovered early. This includes promotional art for the 2025 PWC in Anaheim. possibly confirmed by Pokémon Legends: ZA Startersas well as a list of plans for the 2026 event, which will fundamentally reposition Pokémon as a brand.

Since 2004, the Pokémon World Championship has been a place where The Pokémon Company has hosted the best players from many different games in the franchise, ranging from the Pokémon TCG to spin-off games such as Pokémon UNITE and Pokémon Go. In recent years, while the focus of Pokémon Worlds has remained on the competitive side of events, interest in the event from a casual perspective has been growing, and it appears that this interest exists within the company as well.

At the 2026 Pokémon World Championship, it appears that TPC and its partners will simultaneously host a larger event that will better appeal to the wider Pokémon audience. According to translation from leaked documentationThe expansion is carried out within the Mistral project. It is listed as “an event that brings together all things Pokémon, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pokémon and the recent growth of the Pokémon World Championship.”

There are very few details included in the overall plans, but TPC is clearly committed to running both events as complementary to each other, noting that the promotional art for each should be separate but interconnected as they will act as “two events tied together.” This isn’t a new twist in the event space for big brands: Wizards of the Coast recently did something similar at MagicCon Magic the Gathering, and Evo is slowly evolving from a pure tournament series into a center of fighting game culture.

According to TPC in this leaked document, the current style of using location-inspired themes will change to become the theme for Project Mistral events, while the World Championships will take on a more “esports” style.

Related article: Leaks Reveal Pokemon Tried More Action-Based Fighting in Legends Arceus

As is always the case with Pokémon leaks, none of this information has been confirmed and should be taken lightly until The Pokémon Company makes an official announcement before the next World Championships. Additionally, the document being shared is likely machine translated, so if any context is distorted, this article will be updated to reflect that.