POKÉMON
This year’s Pokémon European International Championships showcases esports’ softer side
Arriving at London’s Excel exhibition centre, as one of the 10,000-plus visitors to the Pokémon European International Championships, you’d be forgiven for missing the esports stage where the game itself is being played. It’s tucked away at the rear, behind a bustling showfloor dotted with fairground-style games and giant plush toys being coveted by excitable children and misty eyed millennials alike. Meanwhile, the coveted Pokémon Centre pop-up requires attendees to register in advance for the opportunity to spend their money.
“It’s basically a mini convention tied to the international championships,” says Joe Merrick, owner of Pokémon fansite Serebii.
“There’s way more people just showing up cosplaying, something which in the past The Pokémon Company frowned upon, but now they’re actively encouraging.” Yet for all that it might feel like stumbling into an anime fan event, this is the biggest in-person Pokémon European Championship to date, with over 4,500 players from around the world. One family we speak to have flown in from Pennsylvania so their 11and 15-year-old sons can compete; elsewhere on the leaderboards you’ll find representatives from Mexico, New Zealand and Brazil.
The collectible card game remains the biggest draw of the event, accounting for more than half of competitors. On the videogame front, however, matches are spread between three titles: Pokémon Go, Pokémon Unite and the latest iteration of the ‘core’ series, Scarlet and Violet. Pokkén Tournament was retired in 2022, after failing to maintain a viable audience, but MOBA-like arena battler Unite has fared far better since launching in 2021. From a spectator’s point of view, it’s easy to see the appeal: with 5v5 matches that last ten minutes apiece, Unite makes for a welcome change of pace from solo, turn-based showdowns.
But there’s no doubt which videogame is the headliner, despite the backlash that greeted Scarlet and Violet’s release. “Obviously, the technical performance sucks – no one is disputing this,” Merrick says. “But if the reaction [to the games] was truly bad, then it wouldn’t have legs. Even with the negativity, people are still buying it, people are still playing it, and watching the content creators playing it – and ultimately the battling itself is perfectly fine.”
Indeed, at launch in 2022, Scarlet and Violet shifted ten million copies in 72 hours. That reflects a growth in the competitive playerbase, as Merrick points out: “Back in 2016, it was just 200 people playing the core game at a tournament like this. Now, it’s 1,000.”
It’s an evolution that Merrick attributes to lockdown boredom, plus the influe
