The incoming release of Pokemon Z-A could be a ground-breaking moment for the beloved monster-collecting franchise.
Set to be the second title in Pokemon's fairly new Legends sub-franchises, Z-A will seemingly take gamers back to the Kalos region (first seen in Pokemon X and Y) telling a story set inside the sprawling Lumiose City.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A was first announced during the February 2024 Pokemon Presents presentation. The game debuted with a mysterious futuristic trailer, sporting nothing but a 2025 release date.
When Will Pokemon ZA Release?
Fans may not be waiting long for the release of Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
Colloquially called Pokemon Z-A, the upcoming Legends title was revealed to be coming sometime in 2025 as a part of its announcement trailer, but exact specifics beyond that were left out.
Some have speculated though that the game could be coming sooner (and in a different fashion) than fans may have thought.
Typically Pokemon games have been on a three-year development cycle.
Pokemon Sun/Moon was released in 2016, Sword/Shield in 2019, and Scarlet/Violet in 2022.
Seeing as Z-A is already listed as a 2025 title (which will be three years since Pokemon Legends: Arceus was released in 2022) it looks as though the Legends franchise will follow this same three-year gap.
Legends: Arceus came to Nintendo Switch in January 2022 which likely hints at a similar Q1 release for Legends: Z-A.
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Could Pokemon Z-A Be a Switch 2 Launch Title?
Where the potentially ground-breaking factor of Z-A's release comes into play, has to do with what else could potentially be hitting store shelves around that same time.
Reports have said that Nintendo's next-generation hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch 2, will be released before the end of March 2025 (via VGC).
This could mean The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are lining up the Pokemon title for a potential release to coincide with the debut of the Switch 2.
If this is the case, Nintendo could be in for an even more massive first few months of its new console's life than some may have predicted.
There are few titles on Nintendo's platforms that sell like Pokemon games. The franchise has sold over 480 million units, as of December 2023 (via The Pokemon Company).
However, something the megalithic franchise has never done is been available as a launch title on one of Nintendo's consoles.
If the Japanese console manufacturer wanted to push the Nintendo Switch 2 unlike anything before it, then getting a new Pokemon game on it at launch would do the trick.
The game's announcement trailer did feature branding for the original Nintendo Switch, but who is to say it will not straddle the console generation line as several Nintendo games have in the past (i.e., The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)?
At this point, Pokemon Z-A coming to the next Nintendo console is pure conjecture, but fans can almost surely expect the game to come in the first three months of 2025, whether it is on the new platform or not.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A is expected to be released sometime in 2025.
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