A new Pokemon multiplayer game is rumored to be announced as a part of the upcoming Pokemon Day 2025 festivities, but it may not be exactly what fans have been expecting from the franchise.
Multiplayer has long been a part of Game Freak's monster-collecting franchise. From day one, fans have been able to battle and trade with other trainers in the mainline games.
Despite this, a full-on mainline multiplayer title has not yet happened in the franchise. Instead, it has either been related to secondary mechanics in bigger games or the crux of spin-offs like the Pokken fighting game and Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Multiplayer Pokemon Game Rumors Swirl Ahead Of Pokemon Day 2025
Rumors of a Pokemon multiplayer game have been swirling online, as the brand awaits its annual Pokemon Day celebration.
Pokemon Day 2025 will ring in the franchise's 29th birthday with a special Pokemon Presents live stream. During that stream fans can expect new announcements, updates on already released games, and various brand partnerships the company has planned (read more about Pokemon Day 2025 rumors here).
As a part of this rumored lineup is a new multiplayer title, codenamed Pokemon Synapse.
The title first appeared in a massive leak of Pokemon developer Game Freak (known as the Teraleak) from November 2024 and then popped back up again in a subsequent leak from the Pokemon developer.
Now, months later, the Synapse codename is back in the conversation as gamers and Pokemon trainers worldwide await all the incoming announcements from Pokemon Day 2025.
On February 24, reliable Pokemon leaker Pyoro (via Centro leaks) posted a cryptic image online of a brain synapse, seemingly indicating a Pokemon Synapse announcement is imminent.
To this point, nothing concrete has come out about the title aside from the teams developing it, ILCA (who last worked in the franchise on Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), and Game Freak.
According to the Teraleak, this new multiplayer title will be unlike anything the franchise has done to date. In fact, it could be a multiplayer shooter.
The name that keeps coming up in various leaks of the game is actually another Nintendo franchise, Splatoon. The Nintendo-developed online shooter sees players trying to cover various locales in buckets of paint rather than eliminating the other team, making for a uniquely non-violent take on the shooter genre.
While it seems unlikely a Synapse will see the franchise's creatures take up arms and spew paint all over the Pokemon world, it could be the series' answer to a shooter without taking on the hyper-violence of most stalwarts of the genre.
It is unclear if the game would be the latest to join Pokemon's free-to-play genre (i.e. Pokemon Unite) or be a full-priced spin-off like 2015's Pokken. On top of that, what platforms it could come to also remains a massive question mark. Although, there is a good chance it could join the expanding lineup of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
If the title is to be announced at Pokemon Day 2025, fans will be hearing about it soon, as the Pokemon Day festivities kick off at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, February 27.
