New Pokemon Z-A game may let players shape Lumiose City, likely to launch on Switch 2 in 2025

The Pokemon Company today announced a new game, Pokemon Z-A.

It's official: The next big Pokemon game isn't coming until 2025. It's called Pokemon Z-A (it's been 3,000 years!), and while official details are light, it sounds like the game could have some sort of building and/or crafting functionality to keep players engaged.

"An exciting adventure awaits players in Lumiose City as it transforms into a place for both people and Pokémon," reads the official description. That's not a lot to go on, but players have pieced some things together.

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First, the game takes place in Lumiose City in what looks to be a futuristic vaporwave/retrowave music video. This might be somewhat misleading. One Twitter user speculates that Pokemon Z-A actually takes place in the past, and we're building Lumiose City into what it actually is in the present day.

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Whatever the case may be, it's possible that gamers can shape Lumiose City as it's being re-developed, complete with customization options, building features, and potentially even allowing players to share their builds and/or visit the cities of their friends.

The 2025 release may also have been chosen for two reasons: One, to give developers more time and ensure that another big controversial launch doesn't happen again (Pokemon Arceus had lots of faults). The second reason is to arm Nintendo's new Switch 2 console with as many first-party games as possible throughout its launch year window.

Reports indicate that Nintendo is planning to release the Switch 2 in March 2025, which would be the current Switch family's 8th fiscal year on the market.