Skip to main content
News

Pokémon takes a leaf out of Animal Crossing's books with Pokopia

The lovely life-sim game will arrive in 2026.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 12 September 2025

We have been waiting for Nintendo to reveal a new Animal Crossing game designed for Nintendo Switch 2 but so far, there has been no sign of this becoming a reality. Instead, we'll have to settle for something similar but entirely different.

As part of the Nintendo Direct showcase, we have just been introduced to Pokémon Pokopia, which is essentially the love child of Pokémon and Animal Crossing. You play as a humanoid Ditto who is looking to build a little slice of heaven by gathering items from different Pokémon creatures and using them to expand and improve the surrounding area.

It's a cutesy game with a block-like structure that somewhat resembles how Pokémon was designed before it went fully open-world, something in line with the Let's Go games. You can meet creatures you will recognise, put them to good use, farm and tend the land, and otherwise just create your own little slice of heaven.

With this in mind, for those curious as to when Pokémon Pokopia will be launching, it'll be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
Why trust Gamereactor
23 Editions Each with its own newsroom and its own scores.
1998 Publishing since Independently owned for the whole of it.
100% Hands-on Written from time with the game, never press material.
1–10 Network Score Every edition’s score, averaged and shown.