With the beginning of the 2026 Championship Series right around the corner, Pokémon have shared a wide range of news relating to the Trading Card Game (TCG), Video Game Championships (VGC), as well as competitive play for Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITE.

It has been confirmed that the rulesets used for official events and online Ranked Battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will no longer align with each other. At the beginning of August, it was announced that the new Regulation Set J format introducing Mythical Pokémon to VGC would take place on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's online Ranked Battles, while Regulation Set H would simultaneously run for official in-person and online events. This came as a surprise to some players, as this means that there is no official way to practice battles in the Regulation H ruleset. The dissonance between the Ranked Ladder and official events will continue with Regulation H running from September to November, and a currently unannounced format running from December until the release of Pokémon Champions for official events. If it follows previous trends, we can expect an announcement regarding this unannounced ruleset around the beginning of November. Additionally, the online Regulation J ruleset ends on January 4, 2026, and a new format is expected to be announced at the beginning of December. As always, Bulbagarden will report on these updates as soon as they are announced.

It has now been confirmed that some time in the future, Pokémon VGC events will "operate solely on Pokémon Champions." This news comes shortly after Champions was announced to be the title played at the 2026 World Championships, alongside the reveal that Mega Evolution would return in the game's first official format. Pokémon Champions is confirmed to launch in 2026. As mentioned above, the final format before Champions' launch begins in December, so it's likely that Champions will be released a few months afterwards, hinting at a release in the earlier months of the year.

Grand and Global Challenges are online VGC events that reward Championship Points (CP) to high-placing trainers. The only difference between these two events is that Grand Challenges are limited to competitors "within regions managed by The Pokémon Company International."

Following the announcement of the upcoming 2026 Grand Challenge I, four more Grand Challenges have been announced for the 2026 Championship Series, taking place in October, November, January, and May. Global Challenges are expected to return as well, with Pokémon stating that more details will be shared soon. If these events are similar to last year's, we can expect these Global Challenges to take place in February, March, and April.

Additionally, the CP payout for these events has been announced, with a drastic change from last year.

This is expected to be a minimum amount, as it has been confirmed previously that CP rewards from online competitions will vary between rating zones — US & Canada, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and Middle East & South Africa — giving more points to players from smaller areas.

The 'Best Finish Limit' for these online events has also been increased to 4. Also coloquially referred to as a BFL, a Best Finish Limit caps the amount of CP you can earn in different types of events. For example, a BFL of 4 means that if you participate in every online event, only your 4 best results will reward you with Championship Points, whereas any other results will be discarded.

So far, these changes have been met with a considerable amount of backlash. 2x Regional Champion Joseph Ugarte shared their opinion on X (formerly Twitter), stating that these changes upset them due to "such lower stakes in comparison to before."

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Trainers will be able to earn Championship Points from Pokémon GO's in-game Battle League depending on their final Leaderboard placement at the end of some seasons. Make sure to link your Pokémon GO account to your Pokémon Trainer Club account in order to receive these rewards! More details will be announced at a later date.

Pokémon have shared that the 2026 Championship Series will introduce "simplified requirements for competing," referring to the age requirements in place to compete. Trainers below the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) age of digital consent in their home country will be required to utilise a Niantic Kids account properly associated with a parent or guardian.

Pokémon GO events are introducing 'limited metas', described as changing rulesets similar to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's cycling Regulations.

At certain TCG events, Tournament Organisers will be permitted to reveal complete competitor deck lists to the public at certain phases of the event. Information relating to each specific event will be available during registration.

Four new Regional Championships have been announced — one in Oceania, one in North America, and two in Latin America.

The 2026 Brisbane Regional Championships take place from November 1-2, 2025, and are held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. At last year's event held in Brisbane, Diego Ferreira won in the VGC division, and Gabriel Smart won in the TCG division.

The 2026 Seattle Regional Championships take place from February 27 to March 1, 2026, and are held at the Seattle Convention Center. The previous event held in Seattle were the 2017 Seattle Regional Championships, won by Justin Burns in the VGC division and Sam Chen in the TCG division.

The 2026 Curitiba Regional Championships take place from March 14-15, 2026, and are held at the Expotrade Convention Center in Brazil. Additionally, the 2026 Campinas Regional Championships take place from May 16-17, 2026, and are held at the Don Pedro Expo in Brazil. The previous event held in Brazil were the 2025 Fortaleza Regional Championships, won by Bruno Rebello in the VGC division, and Vinicius Fernandez in the TCG division.

In Regional, Special, International, and World Championships, competitors in the Pokémon GO division may be required to use a USB hub. It's stated that competitors will be required to bring their own USB-A headphones or adapters "should they wish to hear game audio in the tournament area."

As announced for the recent 2025 World Championships, the Nintendo Switch 2 is eligible for use in the Video Game Championships and Pokémon UNITE Championship Series. Previously released Nintendo Switch consoles, including the base version, the Nintendo Switch Lite, and the Nintendo Switch OLED, are still viable as well, but HORI play stands will no longer be provided for competition. USB hubs will instead be provided "where official Nintendo Switch Docks are not required."

Certain VGC and GO Championship Series events will introduce 'Swiss Dynamic Seating', a new seating method in which "only a portion of a Swiss round’s matching pairings are seated at the start of each round." If an event is planned to use Swiss Dynamic Seating, it will be announced in advance.