Pokémon VGC players fear desolation of local events after next month’s new changes

Big changes are coming to Pokémon VGC local events, and players are worried it’ll kill the scene.

Today, the Pokémon VGC community woke up to new changes regarding local tournaments for next season. According to a June 17 post on X (formerly Twitter) by Pokémon Professor Stephen L Kent, the 2024-2025 season is set to begin on July 1. This is already a sticky situation, considering the 2024 World Championship isn’t until August. In other words, competitors will have to split focus between attending locals for next season while also preparing for Worlds—if they qualify, that is. That isn’t the biggest issue for VGC players, however.

Starting next season, VGC local events will be “moving to Leagues as Video Game League Challenges and Cups” instead of Premier Challenges and Midseason Showdowns. At first glance, this might sound like a simple name change, but as players point out, it means VGC will now follow more similar guidelines to the TCG league. Rather than letting individual Pokémon Professors host VGC tournaments, you now need to be a league organizer with a card shop, according to a post shared by VGC veteran Jeudy Azzarelli.

This is troubling because card shops are typically where TCG league events are held; it just makes sense for TCG players who are more likely to purchase cards from those businesses. VGC players might not have that same desire to buy cards, meaning it wouldn’t be worth it for shops to host game events on top of TCG. “There’s no reason VGC events should be tied to a card shop. They’re a poor fit for VGC locals because VGC players don’t buy anything from most card shops!” VGC player Adi Subramanian commented. “My local and TOs struggled to get events for months. This adds another roadblock to an already complicated process.”

Based on this, there could be a whole lot fewer opportunities for VGC players to attend locals and earn their Championship Points to qualify for Worlds next season, unless something changes or more card shops open their doors to VGC.

On the bright side, however, fewer locals would make regional and international events more important and enticing to attend. This could actually boost attendance for these major events and help break new records like the one set at EUIC earlier this year.