Pokémon Scarlet and Violet announced for later in 2022

Pokemon Scarlet Violet Starters
Pokemon Scarlet Violet Starters (Image credit: Game Freak (screenshot))

What you need to know

  • During the February 2022 Pokémon Presents showcase, the presentation closed on the reveal of a new Pokémon game.
  • The game is called Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and is on the way later in 2022.
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is coming to Nintendo Switch.

To close out the February 2022 Pokémon Presents, Game Freak shared that there's a new game on the way called Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

During today's Pokémon Presents, the trailer showed a wide new area, with multiple new and familiar Pokémon roaming in a similar vein to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, including three new starters. While it's not totally clear right now, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet appear to be the start of the long-rumored Gen 9, kicking off an entirely new generation of Pokémon games.

You can check out the trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet below:

We'll have to wait and see exactly when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet arrive. For now, the game is slated to launch at some point in Late 2022 on the Nintendo Switch. With that in mind, game development is tenuous right now due to resources and studios being continually impacted by the pandemic, so it's possible for games to be delayed.

Game Freak has been extremely busy over the last couple of years, also launching Pokémon Legends: Arceus in January 2022. The changes seen in Arceus, with a more open world and real-time gameplay, have also been well-received.

Samuel Tolbert
Contributor

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance gaming writer who started working for iMore and its sister sites Windows Central and Android Central in July 2019. He handles news, previews, reviews, and exclusive original reporting, and has also been featured on TechRadar. With a background studying engineering before he shifted his focus to gaming journalism, he's skilled at identifying technical advantages and disadvantages provided by different hardware. If he’s not writing something, he’s off playing video games, spending time with his pets, exercising, or reading. He's also fond of trying to draw things with his iPad.