Highlights
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A may not release until later in 2025, with rumors pointing to a launch in the latter part of the year.
- The game will take place in Lumiose City and feature the return of Mega Evolutions, but details are scarce at this time.
- The lack of synergy between the early 2025 Pokemon TCG sets and the game's theme suggests Z-A may not be available until April 2025 or later.
The upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A may not be releasing until later in 2025, according to an interesting new theory. Pokemon Legends: Z-A is the next Game Freak-developed Pokemon game. A follow-up to the well-reviewed Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Z-A will take Pokemon fans back to the Kalos region and will see the long-awaited return of Mega Evolutions.
Fans know that Pokemon Legends: Z-A takes place entirely in Lumiose City, but besides that, there aren't a ton of other details available about the game. All that's been shown so far in an official capacity is a CG trailer setting up the basic concept, but no gameplay has been shown. We know that Pokemon Legends: Z-A is looking to launch in 2025, but it looks like it may be launching in the latter part of that year, which could mean fresh info on it is a ways off.
PokeBeach recently pointed out how none of the announced Pokemon TCG sets for early 2025 seem to line up with Pokemon Legends: Z-A's focus on the Kalos region and Mega Evolutions. PokeBeach pointed out how previous Pokemon TCG sets had synergy with Pokemon video game releases, and so the fact that the early 2025 Pokemon TCG offerings don't seem to match Legends: Z-A seems to suggest that the Switch game will not be available in the early months of 2025 as some have predicted. Since corresponding Pokemon TCG sets always release within two months of their associated video games, PokeBeach concludes that the earliest Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be out is April 2025, but that it may actually launch in later 2025 instead. Of course, it's always possible The Pokemon Company could pull something unexpected and break from its established patterns, but for now, it seems that the best bet is Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be a later 2025 release.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Release Date Rumored for Later in 2025
If Pokemon Legends: Z-A is coming later in 2025, it raises some interesting questions. For one, what will Nintendo use to fill up the early 2025 months in its absence? As it stands, the only major Nintendo Switch game confirmed for early 2025 is Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Nintendo also has Metroid Prime 4: Beyond confirmed for 2025, but like the new Pokemon game, it is not expected to launch in early 2025.
Secondly, Pokemon Legends: Z-A potentially launching later in the year could also mean it overlaps or comes a lot r to the launch of the Switch successor console. The next-generation Nintendo onsole has yet to be officially unveiled, but many are expecting it to launch at some point in 2025. If so, it will be interesting to see if Pokemon Legends: Z-A gets a native Switch 2 port or if it has some kind of performance enhancements when running on the newer console versus the older Switch. Ultimately, all fans can do is speculate until Nintendo and The Pokemon Company decide to share more information.
Franchise Pokemon Platform(s) Switch Released 2025-00-00 Developer(s) Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo
