A new Pokémon Legends game is coming to the “Nintendo Switch family of systems” in 2025. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, announced Tuesday with a brief teaser trailer, is an “ambitious new entry” into the series that will launch simultaneously worldwide. It’s also fuel for the fire that a new Nintendo Switch console is coming next year.
The first Pokémon Legends game, Arceus, launched in 2022. Arceus was new ground for the franchise: the first open-world game in the series, something for which fans had long clamored. The Pokémon Company offered little in the way of details on Z-A, which will take place in Lumiose City of the Kalos region, the France-inspired setting introduced in Pokémon X and Y. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, “an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.”
Wording around the game’s launch, specifically that it will come to Nintendo “systems,” has already caught the eye of some fans. While that could refer to variations on the Switch—the Switch Lite, the OLED model—reports earlier this month suggest that the Switch successor is expected in 2025. VGC reports that the delay could be a push to give Nintendo time to line up “stronger first-party software.”
Anticipation for a new Nintendo console couldn’t be higher. It’s been nearly seven years since the company introduced the Switch and more than two since the OLED version dropped. All the more reason for fans to speculate about when the next system might come. Following Tuesday’s Z-A announcement, “Switch 2”—the name commonly given to the (presumably) forthcoming console—began trending on X with fans posting “I can care about Pokémon again” and “The Switch 2 has to be next year because I just know they don’t want us playing the new Pokémon game in 30 [frames per second].”
The new Switch’s existence is hardly a secret these days; during GDC’s 2024 state-of-the-industry survey, 8 percent of polled developers said they were working on games for its successor. It’s not a question of if the Switch 2 exists; it’s when Nintendo will finally announce it.
