The London Pokemon Center is a few months away, so we’ll have to make do with this render for now.
The Pokemon Company
The Pokemon Company is celebrating the upcoming Sword and Shield’s UK-inspired Galar region by opening a pop-up Pokemon Center in London. It’ll basically be a store devoted to Pokemon merchandise, with some London-exclusive items — presumably bowler hat Pikachu will be among them.
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Nintendo shows latest Pokemon game, Sword and Shield
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The store will open in Westfield London from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15 — the date of Pokemon Sword and Shield’s release on Nintendo Switch — but these dates could change, the company said in a release.
Hardcore trainers will be making another trip to Britain’s capital next year — the 2020 Pokemon World Championships will be held there, the company announced Sunday, after a Twitter exchange between the US and UK accounts. We don’t have dates yet, but they’ve been held in August each year since 2004, and the 2019 event happened Aug 16-19.
You don’t have to ask us twice!
Trainers, the 2020 Pokémon World Championships will be held in London, England! 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/BKWEVQRp9R
— Pokémon @ #PokemonWorlds (@Pokemon) August 18, 2019
The championships include competitive tournaments in the main video game series (2020 will be the first to use Sword and Shield), the Trading Card Game, Pokken Tournament and Pokemon Go (which had its first invitational in 2019). Even if you’re not seriously into the competitive side, there’s plenty of trading meetups, cosplay and exclusive merchandise on sale.
First published Aug. 5 at 4:16 a.m. PT.
Updated Aug. 19 at 2:30 a.m. PT: Adds details about 2020 World Championships coming to London.
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