Pokemon Champions Producer Responds to Criticisms Over Visuals

The producer and director of Pokemon Champions has acknowledged the criticism levied at the game’s graphics, and has shared a response. While fans will likely be glad to know that their complaints have been heard, the answer doesn’t necessarily mean that visuals in Pokemon Champions will get substantially better in the future.

Pokemon Champions was first revealed back in February 2025, and saw its launch on Switch systems in early April 2026. While fans were curious and hopeful for the game, the title hasn’t fared as well as The Pokemon Company and The Pokemon Works likely intended. The Pokemon battler has been criticized for bugs, overall difficulty, and its graphics, which players have found lackluster, especially on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Pokemon Champions Director Speaks Out on the Game’s Graphics

The complaints of Pokemon Champions players and the criticisms from critics have been heard by Masaaki Hoshino, the producer and director of the game. Speaking with Eurogamer Germany, Hoshino explained that he himself is a Pokemon fan, and that he understands where the community is coming from. However, he states that the team “tried to do our best” with regard to its gameplay and graphics, and attempted to explain how his prior experience with developing Pokken Tournament played a role in the development of Pokemon Champions. With that game, the team put every effort into delivering the “best graphics” possible, but points out that Pokken Tournament only ever had two Pokemon on-screen at any given time, whereas they had to deal with “more limitations” with Pokemon Champions.

Further, Hoshino seems to be proud of some aspects of the game’s visuals, pointing out how Pokemon have their own shadows, which create spatial depth. Another element he noted was the game’s battle effects, which he indicated were developed from scratch for the game, and he personally went through and reviewed them all. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer any indication as to whether the game will see improvements to its visuals with future updates. He also didn’t offer an explanation why the game is locked at 30FPS on Nintendo Switch 2 when games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Pokemon Legends: Z-A have managed to run at 60 FPS on the Switch 2.

Since Pokemon Champions will be playable on mobile later this year, it’s possible that the team was focused more on making sure it plays well on all systems, rather than improving the experience on just one. However, with the game launching with a limited Pokedex of just 187 Pokemon and having notable glitches and bugs at release, players’ attitudes toward the game seem to have largely soured. The title has already seen some fixes via updates, and it’s possible that it could find its footing in future updates after the mobile version is officially out and stable, similar to how patches smoothed out the rough launch Pokemon Scarlet and Violet had, but that remains to be seen.

Thankfully, another game in the franchise, Pokemon Pokopia, is doing quite well as the first major Switch 2-exclusive Pokemon game. The game has been praised by gamers and critics, and has given players enough options and tools to build to their hearts’ content, as well as introducing regular events to keep things fresh. Those who are looking for a modern Pokemon battler, however, won’t be satisfied by the spin-off, as it’s a social sim. Time will tell if Pokemon fans end up having to wait for Pokemon Winds and Waves to release for a new full-fledged modern battle experience on the Switch 2, or if Pokemon Champions can find its footing in the months to come.