Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has just begun their 41st in-game competitive battling season, and it's going to be their last. In fact, they won't even finish the season as the destination for the Pokémon Video Game Championships, because Pokémon Champions' launch will see an immediate transition to the bespoke competitive battling game.
Season 41 began on April 1 in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and it will be the last time the official competitive scene is played within the mainline game series. Pokémon announced that "VGC will transition to Pokémon Champions as the standard platform for all competitive matches with its launch on the Nintendo Switch systems on Wednesday, April 8, 2026." It's unclear how deep the multiplayer systems in the upcoming Pokémon Winds and Waves will be, but it would appear that competitive battles have left the mainline games for good.
The VGC has played its matches via the mainline Pokémon games since the Pokémon World Championships added them alongside the existing TCG competition in 2008. Nearly two decades of the tradition will come to an end when Pokémon Champions comes out on April 8. This leaves the current season of Scarlet and Violet in an odd place...
