Pokémon World Championships


The Pokémon World Championships is an invite-only esports event organized by The Pokemon Company. It is held annually in August and features games from the Pokémon series such as the Pokémon video games, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokkén Tournament and Pokémon Go. Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception of Asia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by the Play! Pokémon program.

History

The Pokémon World Championships first began with the Pokémon Trading Card Game in 2004. In 2009, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for the Pokémon video game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships. Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC are played with a different game each year.
In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced that Pokkén Tournament will have its own championship series and will be played at the Pokémon World Championships.
In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place in London, United Kingdom, the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside of North America. This is likely due to the setting of Pokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships.
On March 31, 2020, Play! Pokémon cancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championships and part of its season between March and June 2020.

Qualification

The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs instead of playing through the first day.

Play! Pokémon program

Players located in a country with a Play! Pokémon program compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season.
In 2015, the Play! Pokemon program expanded to include countries from the continents of Latin America and Asia. However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced that Asia would no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships.

Japan & South Korea

Tournaments in Japan and South Korea are organized independently from Play! Pokémon and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification.
In Japan, players compete for an invite to the Japan National Championships by playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season. The best performing players of the Japan National Championships will then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships.
In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example in 2015, players would compete in the Korean National Championships and earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by the Korean League and earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season.

Other

There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World Championships or by participating in a single-elimination tournament known as the Last Chance Qualifier at the location of the World Championships itself.

List of World Champions

Trading Card Game (TCG)

Video Game Championships (VGC)

Pokkén Tournament

2014 World Championships

The 2014 Pokémon World Championships was the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Washington D.C. alongside the 2014 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championship who were in their eleventh edition.
The tournament was streamed via Twitch for the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000.
The defending Video Game champions were Arash Ommati from Italy, Hayden McTavish from the United States, and Brendan Zheng from the United States. The opening ceremony of the event was attended by Junichi Masuda, the video game designer for the Pokémon franchise and a member of the board of directors of Game Freak.

2014 qualification

The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World Championships.
The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner:
Most of the invitations didn't include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament.

2014 tournament structure

Players per country

CountryZone# of Players
North America22
Europe10
Europe7
Japan7
Australia4
Europe3
Europe2
South Korea2
South Africa1
North America1
Europe1

Results

Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches.
The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World Champion Ray Rizzo did not advance to the single elimination rounds.
PlaceMasters DivisionSenior DivisionJunior Division
1st Se Jun Park Nikolai Zielinski Kota Yamamoto
2nd Jeudy Azzarelli Mark Mcquillan London Swan
3rd Collin Heier Eric Rios Haruka Narita
4th Markus Liu Ian McLaughlin Riku Miyoshi

2015 World Championships

The 2015 Pokémon World Championships was the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official Pokémon Twitch channel. The defending Video Game champions for the year were Se Jun Park from South Korea, Nikolai Zielinsky from the United States and Kota Yamamoto from Japan.

2015 qualification

Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the 2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated by Play! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification.
Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones were introduced.
The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under 2 Swiss tournaments and 1 single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites:
As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows:-:
The Video Game Championships consisted of 2 Swiss tournaments and 1 single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday, all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday, where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday.

Final standings (Video Game Championships)

2016 World Championships

The 2016 Pokémon World Championships was the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California from August 19 to August 21.
For the first time in the tournament history, the Pokkén Tournament invitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships and Trading Card Game tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event.
The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami from Japan, Mark McQuillan from the United Kingdom and Kotone Yasue from Japan. The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from the United States, Patrick Martinez from the United States, and Rowan Stavenow from Canada.

Age divisions and qualifications

Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: the Junior Division, the Senior Division, and the Masters Division. For the Pokkén Tournament invitational, players were grouped into either the Senior Division or Masters Division.
The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points. Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season. Players from Japan and South Korea were excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points.
Play! Pokémon divided players into five different rating zones: US and Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world.
There are two possible invitations players could obtain:
'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon.

Trading Card Game Championship qualifications

The following table shows the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
ZonesMasters DivisionSenior DivisionJunior DivisionDay Two
US and Canada300 CP250 CP200 CPTop 16 Players in each division
Europe300 CP250 CP200 CPTop 22 Players in each division
Latin America200 CP150 CP100 CPTop 8 Players in each division
Asia-Pacific200 CP150 CP100 CPTop 8 Players in each division
South Africa200 CP150 CP100 CP-

Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each country's organized play system.

Video Game Championship qualifications

For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
ZonesDay OneDay Two
US and Canada350 CPTop 8 of the Zone
Europe275 CPTop 16 of the Zone
Latin America150 CPTop 4 of the Zone
Asia-Pacific200 CPTop 4 of the Zone
South Africa400 CP-

2016 tournament structure

The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday, all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday, where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday.

Final standings (Video Game Championships)

Final standings (Trading Card Game)

Weapons controversy

During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors from Iowa brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by various Pokémon fans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2015. The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail. The weapons recovered were a recently purchased Remington shotgun, an AR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition. They plead not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000. On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trail was postponed to November 2016. Following the release of Pokémon Go in July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon. Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends.