It looks like some Pokémon fans have figured out a way to predict when Pokémon Legends Z-A’s release schedule.
As reported by Pokebeach, there is a cadence to the release of new Pokémon Trading Card Game packs, and the release dates for new Pokémon games. Pokémon TCG is one of the major pillars of the Pokémon franchise as a whole, parallel to not only the main RPG line and its many spinoffs, and the anime series and movies.
As such, The Pokémon Company does plan out their schedule to sustain interest in their fans, especially their biggest whales. We do know the most loyal Pokémon fans will spend on everything. So, they would plan all of these different products so that they stay interested, and perhaps can afford to continue these spending habits, year after year.
Now, Pokebeach noticed that the trend is for the new Pokémon games to release two months after the Pokémon TCG deck related to it comes out. They don’t necessarily make Pokémon TCG decks that are directly related to the new games, but there is some synchronicity. They will often introduce new characters, elements, and mechanics related to or inspired by the latest game.
Pokebeach also looked at the Pokémon TCG decks that have already been announced for 2025, but have not been released yet. There four decks in total, and Pokémon TCG also spreads them out so that players don’t feel pressured to spend too much all at once.
Pokebeach concludes that a Pokémon TCG deck related to Pokémon Legends Z-A can come by April, at the earliest. If all these other assumptions hold true, the earliest that the Pokémon Legends Z-A game itself releases is June 2025.
As Pokebeach explains, a lot of these assumptions may turn out to be proven false. For example, if Game Freak announces a delay, it may come later than this date. But it’s still useful to look at a June to December 2025 time frame for Pokémon Legends Z-A.
Pokémon Legends Z-A was already announced for the Nintendo Switch, so it will be one of the later releases on the console, after Nintendo announces, or even launches, the Switch’s successor. That won’t necessarily harm its sales, since it’s also expected that Switch games will be playable on that successor.
But Nintendo would have had to account for Pokémon Legends Z-A now being a cross-generation release. In fact, we may see better performance for Pokémon Legends Z-A on the new console than on the Switch. Many fans do hope that Pokémon Scarlet Violet will also run better on that new platform.
So it’s possible that Pokémon Legends Z-A will be advertised as a cross-generation game, with particular marketing for better performance on the new console. And it may even be positioned as the system seller for that new platform, going in line with a potential release in the second half of 2025.
