Pokémon Champions Developer ‘Sincerely Apologizes’ For Launch Issues, Details List of Bugs to be Fixed

Following a rocky launch, the maker of Pokémon Champions has apologized for the game's various technical issues and released a list of bugs it's currently planning to fix.

Champions, billed as the Pokémon franchise's new competitive battle platform, launched this week for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, but has received a mixed reaction from fans.

There have been complaints of technical issues — some of which are now in the process of being fixed — but also wider criticism of the game's lack of features, limited graphical polish and reduced Pokémon roster. And while it may now be reassuring to see the game's developer already responding to early issues, the list of problems officially listed to be fixed below is by no means exhaustive.

Indeed, there's no sign yet of a solution for the eye-opening bug that leaves docked Switch 2 players at a lower resolution than intended — a situation that requires you undock and re-dock the console to fix, every time you boot up the game.

"Thank you for enjoying Pokémon Champions," reads a note from the game's developer, posted online today. "We have confirmed that the following issues are currently occurring:"

• The description of the "Leech Seed" state is incorrect. Incorrect: Takes damage equal to 1/16 of maximum HP. Correct: Takes damage equal to 1/8 of maximum HP. However, the calculation is correct during battle.
• Under certain conditions, when both Pokémon Mega Evolve simultaneously, the order may be unintended.
• The gender of some Pokémon in the tutorial is incorrect.
• The gender of some Pokémon in the released coordinated teams is incorrect.
• When in Encore state, the ability "Lightning Rod" may not activate correctly.
• When viewing move details during battle, if you hover the cursor over "Mega Evolution" and press the B button, you cannot select the move. If this phenomenon occurs, you can avoid the inability to select the move by opening and closing the surrender window with the "-" button.

"The above bugs are scheduled to be fixed in future data updates or maintenance," the note continues. "We will continue to investigate other issues not mentioned above. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your continued support of Pokémon Champions."

An earlier issue surrounding the transfer of Pokémon from the cloud-based Pokémon Home service has already been fixed, it's reported.

Players have branded the game as still feeling "like a beta test," though it is still early days. Pokémon Champions has pitched as the home of the franchise's competitive battling scene for years to come, with more creatures and features to be added in future. Indeed, The Pokémon Company has said it will add more features to Pokémon Champions over time — potentially until there's 10,000 Pokémon species, rather than the current 1,000-odd. Right now, however, the game doesn't feel seem to have left a particularly positive initial impression.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social