Pokemon Winds and Waves: everything we know so far
The next big Pokemon games come out worldwide in 2027, only on Nintendo Switch 2. Here is what is confirmed, and what is still a guess.
Pokemon Winds and Pokemon Waves are the next mainline entries in the series, announced during the 30th anniversary Pokemon Presents on Pokemon Day 2026. They launch globally in 2027, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. This page collects what is confirmed and gets updated as more is announced.
The confirmed facts
There are only four of them, and it is worth being precise about that:
- The games are titled Pokemon Winds and Pokemon Waves
- They are mainline entries — the next core generation, not a spin-off
- They launch globally in 2027
- They are Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives
Everything else circulating is inference or speculation. We will say clearly which is which.
Why Switch 2 exclusivity is the big detail
Every mainline Pokemon generation since the Game Boy has launched on hardware with a very large installed base, usually late in that hardware's life. Winds and Waves do the opposite: they are built for the newer console from the start, with no Switch 1 version announced.
That matters for two reasons. It removes the technical ceiling that shaped recent generations — the performance complaints around Scarlet and Violet were, in large part, a story about an eight-year-old handheld running an open world. And it makes the pair a system-seller: for a substantial number of households, a mainline Pokemon game is the reason a new Nintendo console enters the house.
What the naming suggests
Paired titles are the series' oldest convention: Red and Blue, Gold and Silver, Sun and Moon, Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet. Two versions, exclusive Pokemon in each, trade to complete the Pokedex.
Winds and Waves both name movements of a natural medium — air and water. Previous pairs have signalled their thematic axis in the titles (light and dark, time and space, past and future), so a wind/water thematic split is a reasonable read. It is a read, not a confirmation.
What else was announced in the same presentation
The 30th anniversary Presents was unusually dense, and Winds and Waves shared it with:
- Updates on Pokemon Champions, the dedicated competitive battling title
- Updates on Pokemon Pokopia, since released, now with its Bubbly Basin add-on out
- A re-release of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch
- Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness joining GameCube – Nintendo Classics
Read together, that is a company spreading its thirtieth year across every part of its catalogue — new mainline, new competitive, new life sim, and the back catalogue.
When we will learn more
The reliable channels are Pokemon Presents broadcasts, which cluster around Pokemon Day in late February and a summer slot, and Nintendo Directs. With a 2027 launch, the realistic window for a proper reveal — region, starters, box legendaries — is the February 2027 Presents, with a possible teaser before then.
We update this page each time something is officially confirmed.