Pokémon Direct Set by Nintendo for Later This Week

Nintendo surprised Pokémon fans today by announcing that a special “Pokémon Direct” version of its Nintendo Direct streams will arrive later this week.

The Japanese publisher revealed that the Pokémon Direct stream will take place on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. The livestream, which will be broadcast on Nintendo’s own YouTube channel, will last for “roughly 20 minutes” and air at 9:30 a.m. ET (6:30 a.m. PT). As always, the company is being vague with details but is promising new Pokémon information.

This Nintendo Direct stream will offer up the first major Pokémon news since the most recent mainline games in the series, Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, released on Nov. 15, 2019. The Switch-exclusive titles had a fair share of controversy upon launch due to not supporting the full roster of pocket monsters like previous role-playing game installments did. Despite the vocal complaints online, it wound up having the highest-earning launch in series history and sold over six million copies in its first week.

Several Pokémon titles are already known to be in development, so an update on some of them can be expected during the Nintendo Direct. These include the new Pokémon Home app, which will allow players to transfer their Pokémon GO and Nintendo 3DS critters to Nintendo Switch, and Pokémon Sleep, a smartphone app that will reward players who catch a good night of rest with Pokémon. There’s also another Detective Pikachu game on the way, a follow-up to the Nintendo 3DS original that spawned the hit film of the same name. Tencent additionally announced a deal with The Pokémon Company last year to develop a new game of some kind.