The Pokémon 30th Anniversary livestream that aired on February 27, 2026, showcased the most important projects The Pokémon Company is currently working on – and it seems that free-to-start games may be the future of the franchise.
The anticipation for the Pokémon 30th Anniversary livestream has been building for weeks, with fans theorizing what could be revealed during the showcase. Unfortunately, the 25-minute live presentation was a bit of a let-down, featuring only one new game announcement while struggling to cram in every mobile app currently supported by the brand.
Over the past decade, the Pokémon franchise has steadily released app after app on mobile devices and consoles, starting with Pokémon Go in 2016. In that time, the focus of gameplay has shifted away from the RPG adventure players knew from the 90s and 2000s. The mechanics of mobile games have leaked into the full-price games, blurring the lines to the point where it has become hard to tell if the series is still an RPG adventure or a live service app game.
The over-saturation of mobile apps for the Pokémon franchise was illustrated in a card shown during the 30th Anniversary livestream, which clearly depicted that the stream was primarily a commercial for live-service, microtransaction-loaded mobile titles.
How to Watch the 30th Anniversary Pokémon Day Livestream
The Pokémon 30th Anniversary Presents livestream has been announced for February 2026, offering the latest news for the series.
The Pokémon 30th Anniversary Livestream Showcase Primarily Covered Apps
During the showcase, before the reveal of the Gen 10 games Pokémon Winds & Waves, a card was shown breaking down the showcase. This view gives a stark look at the reality of the Pokémon Franchise at this time.
Of the 25-minute showcase runtime, seven of the featured games were mobile titles with a free-to-start gameplay structure. This means that players can download and interact with some of the core components of the game, but they will have to pay money to gain access to everything the title has to offer. This cost will typically be ongoing, including battle passes, event tickets, bag expansions, key item purchases, currency unlocks, and much more. You can technically play without all of this to an extent, but the “free” experience will be greatly limited.
In addition to the seven mobile app ads, two of the announcements were for games that are already out, and the information given was much shorter than the app game commercials. Pokémon Legends: Z-A announced Mega Garchomp Z, and Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen got another brief announcement about their release following the showcase. The upcoming Pokopia game also received a short teaser with a new Rotom form and Greedent character.
In addition to this, there was a short trailer for the Pokémon Trading Card Game and the announcement of Pokémon EX: Gale of Darkness coming to Nintendo Classics in March. Both of these were also short in comparison to the mobile game ads.
The only new announcement for the entire franchise milestone stream was Pokémon Winds & Waves, which confirmed Gen 10 in a limited trailer with few details outside a few overview shots of the region in early development and the new starters.
When compared to the 25th anniversary presents, there is a stark difference in how the showcases have changed. In 2021, there were still many app games, but they were featured for a much smaller amount of time. The Presents gave a fresh trailer for New Pokémon Snap, as well as announcing Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. In addition to the reveals, both games were given extensive first-look trailers with plenty of information and context.
While the release of mobile app games is a fast way to keep fans playing, the 2026 Presents has possibly shown that the franchise has become bogged down with them. It also seems like the focus on development is less on new console titles bought at full price, and more on live-service games with microtransaction elements. It paints a very different future for the Pokémon franchise than what might have been expected five years ago.
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