From August 18 to 21, 2022 took place the Pokémon World Championships in London. The opportunity for players from all over the world to come and show their strategic talents whether on the Sword and Shield video game with the VGC tournament, the card game with the TCG or even Pokkén Tournament, the fighting game, Pokémon Unite, the League of Legends moba and even Pokémon GO, Niantic’s mobile game!
Thumbnail photo: The Pokémon Company International
The crazy atmosphere of Pokémon Worlds 2022
On site, the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. Regardless of the category, the public was jubilant at each match of the competition, especially for the finals, to support their favorite player to win the trophy. My best memory is probably the Unite final where the fans were shouting at the top of their lungs to cheer on the European team. I didn’t think the competitive moba scene was so intense and I’m hopeful that esports will persist on the game. .
esports
After such excitement during WORLDS 2022, I had to come back to the Pokémon Unite competition. Does the moba have a real future in the world of esports?
Pokémon GO PvP truly has a bright future ahead of it in the official competitive arena. The World Championships in London were an opportunity to prove how strong the enthusiasm is. A look back at the event with an interview with the only qualified French player on site.
The multitude of additional activities
Spectators or competitors could even enjoy a multitude of side activities during tournament breaks. The central event of these Worlds was of course the Pop-up Pokemon Center almost as big as the one in Tokyo. Hundreds of stuffed animals, clothes bearing the image of your favorite monsters, replica Pokéballs or even collectible cards: the shop attracted thousands of people, especially on the first day, who wanted to leave London with a good souvenir. especially like the exclusive plushes of Pikachu and Roserade.
In addition to this Pokémon center, visitors could attend the broadcast on the big screen of Hisui’s Chronicles, get some goodies for free and a photo with Pikachu and Eevee, or participate in a few side events to win prizes.
On the press side, we were even able to open a few card packs from the expansion Lost Origin in preview and which will be available in September (and I clearly had magnificent rare cards)! In short, after the pandemic, Pokémon Worlds was back for a sensational event in London, a stage with sumptuous decorations and streams worthy of the name to make it a real esports competition. I can only be impressed by the scale of the organization but also the number of competitors and spectators present.
The 2022 Pokémon World Championships are now over and you can find in this article the list of all the winners for each of the categories and games.
As always, the closing ceremony was an opportunity to present new information on the next big news in the card game, but above all a new trailer and a new creature for Pokémon Scarlet and Purple which will be released on November 18.
See you next summer in Yokohama, Japan, for the rest of the events with the Worlds 2023!
The next Sword and Shield set – Silver Storm – featuring Alolan Vulpix, Lugia and creatures from Arceus Legends, will be released in November. Here are some visuals of the boosters and other products that will be on sale.