Pokemon Winds and Waves reportedly had 2026 launch planned

Pokemon Winds and Waves were reportedly supposed to launch in November 2026 before a last-minute decision pushed both games back an entire year.

The Gen 10 games were officially announced in February 2026 with a 2027 release window, but a new leak claims The Pokemon Company had originally planned to release them much sooner.

The delay, they say, has had substantial repercussions on the wider franchise, including the anime series, which has been forced to delay the start of a new arc based on Winds and Waves.

Pokemon Winds and Waves delay reportedly disrupted anime plans

According to Pokemon anime leaker Moot, the decision to delay Winds and Waves from November 2026 to November 2027 was made internally in January 2026, shortly before the games were officially revealed.

Moot claims the games simply weren't ready for release, forcing The Pokemon Company to rethink its plans for other projects tied to the franchise's tenth generation.

Among those reportedly affected was Pokemon Horizons, the ongoing anime series that was originally supposed to conclude with episode 136.

The leaker claims The Pokemon Company had convinced animation studio OLM to extend the series with an additional story arc introducing elements from Winds and Waves, under the assumption that the games would arrive in late 2026.

However, the supposed delay forced the production team to review its plans, removing references to the upcoming games. Moot claims this included replacing a rumored Gen 10 Pokemon named Konetsu with Ditto.

The scheduling changes reportedly caused further problems because several members of the anime's production team had already committed to other projects, making another extension difficult.

As a result, Moot claims Pokemon Horizons will enter a hiatus around March 2027, with new episodes not expected to resume until October or November.

The series would then return with a final arc tied to Winds and Waves, while a separate Pokemon anime currently in pre-production reportedly won't premiere until 2029.

None of these claims have been confirmed by The Pokemon Company, and the circumstances surrounding the alleged delay remain unverified.

For now, Pokemon Winds and Waves are officially scheduled to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027, with no specific release date announced.