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Victory Road Anaheim: 2025 Pokémon World Championships

For one weekend in August, Anaheim became the beating heart of all things Pokémon. August 15-17 saw the celebration of Pokémon, as thousands of competitors and fans joined the 2025 Pokémon World Championships. 

Trading card games, esports, fanfare, and so much more came together to celebrate Pokémon in the largest event of the year.

Picture of Alex Kivitz

Alex Kivitz

Festival Grounds - A Celebration For Fans

Before the battle for the world champion title even began, the convention center was transformed into a true festival grounds. Trainers from around the world could spend hours exploring and experiencing everything the venue had to offer without even watching a match.

We saw the return of the Pokémon Center pop-up store, showcasing amazing exclusive goodies, plushies of all your favourite Pokémon, outfits, accessories, and anything else you could imagine. 

Elsewhere, we saw an iconic art gallery and museum that featured the history not only of Pokémon but also the past World Championships. Winning Video Game Championships (VGC) teams, past TCG winners with special decks made dedicated to them, and the history of consoles and games were all on display.

There was even a cosplay runway showcase that became one of the biggest highlights of the weekend. We saw participants from around the world walk the runway in dazzling designs, embodying some of the most iconic Trainers, Gym Leaders, and Pokémon.

Pokémon Stadium - The Big Stage

This is it, the biggest stage in the world of competitive Pokémon. This is where legends are born, stories are made, and where every Trainer aspires to play. 

As you approach the back to the main competitive hall, the lights dim, rows upon rows of seating are directed towards an epic stage, and the best players in the world are fighting for the title of champion. There were live performances, interviews and panels, and some of the best gameplay of any Pokémon game there is to see.

For the grand finals, we found ourselves moved to an epic arena with giant screens in all directions and LED displays on the stage itself. The whole arena burst with bright lights as the stage mimicked the in-game actions, showing key pieces of information and pulsing with special effects.

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Champions Crowned - Four Battle Frontiers

The heart and soul of the Pokémon World Championship is of course the unforgettable stories of the new Pokémon world champions. We saw Trainers battle across the Trading Card Game (TCG), Video Game Championships (VGC), Pokémon UNITE, and Pokémon GO.

Memories were made, records set, and we had some world firsts as well.

Video Championship

The Video Game Championship brought us some of the most high intensity moments of the entire weekend. In the Juniors Division, Luke Whittier brought home the gold medal, showcasing the real battle prowess of the next generation. Kevin Han managed to take the win in the Seniors division, and Giovanni Cischke emerged victorious after a hard fought 2-1 victory over James Evans.

Trading Card Game

Like the VGC, TCG also had three divisions for the World Championship. Japan’s Yuya Okita took home the Juniors crown while Fuguan Liao won in the Seniors division. Despite only being China’s second ever competitive season since the official Chinese release, they proved they are not a region to discount by any means. And lastly, we had Riley McKay from Canada winning the $50,000 grand prize in the Master’s division, piloting the same Gardevoir EX deck that saw him reach second place at NAIC.

Pokémon UNITE

Pokémon UNITE fans witnessed one of the most nail-bitting competitions to date. After blitzing through the knockout rounds and beating out Pokémon UNITE heavyweights like Luminosity Gaming and Zeta Division, team Perú UNITE became the world champion team!

Pokémon GO

Perhaps the most historic story of all came from Pokémon GO. Ved “Beelzeboy” Bamb, from Nagpur, India, shocked the world by becoming the first Indian player to win an esports world championship. 

Future Sight - Closing Ceremony and Announcements

As the spotlights focused on the center stage, we were treated to a special appearance by Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of the Pokémon Company. We were shown some amazing sneak peeks for the coming year of Pokémon. 

The 2026 World Championships will be making their way to San Francisco, and alongside the new location we were introduced to PokémonXP. PokémonXP looks to be an immersive fan experience to fully immerse Trainers and integrate interactive attractions with the competitive stage.

One of the most exciting announcements was a huge change to the VGC circuit. The VGC competitive scene will officially be moving on from Scarlet & Violet to a brand new Pokémon Champions game. Not much is known about it at the moment, but we are excited for the possibilities, accessibility, and new mechanics that will shake up the VGC competitive scene.

What truly made Anaheim special wasn’t just the competition, or the announcements, but rather the sense of unity and community around Pokémon. Fans came from around the world to celebrate what they love most. We saw families taking photos with larger than life Pokémon, cosplayers gathered together to recreate battles, and Trainers competed in the games they love. We walked away with new world champions from China, Peru, India, Japan, Canada, and the US. With San Francisco already on the horizon, we cannot wait to see the Pokémon community take its next steps into the future.

Disclaimer: Image Credits

All images in this article are sourced from the Event Recap – 2025 Pokémon World Championships and the official Pokémon World Championships stream.

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