ZA release date leak raises questions

It’s been a historic month for Pokemon leaks. Recently, Game Freak – the developer responsible for the Pokémon series – was hacked, resulting in a ton of company files being leaked online. This included new information about old Pokémon games, current Pokémon games, and future Pokémon games. The latter category includes Pokemon Legends: ZA, the 2022 Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 sequel to Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

So far, leaks for Pokemon Legends: ZA have been small compared to leaks for older Pokemon games. As for important information, the first thing that leaked was the report of the return of Mega Evolutions and two Pokémon in the game via Pokemon Legends: ZA. Then a third Pokemon leaked. And now we have a glimpse of the game’s release date.

Videos from ComicBook.com

More specifically, it was revealed that Pokemon Legends: ZA was originally scheduled to release in 2024. Exactly when in 2024 and when these plans changed is unclear. We know that the plan now is to release the game on both the current Switch and the upcoming Switch 2. We don’t know how this affects this information. It’s possible that it was originally only intended to be a Switch game, at least at the time of release. It is also possible that the Switch 2 was originally scheduled to be released in 2024 as well.

Be that as it may, this could tell us that Pokemon Legends: ZA will release sooner rather than later, unless this delay was significant. If the plan was to release it in 2024, a release in the first half of 2025 seems more likely than a release in the second half of the year, but that’s just speculation.

It’s entirely possible that these new Pokémon leaks will actually delay the release of Pokémon Legends: ZA and other future Pokémon games. Even if the game is scheduled to release in the first half of 2025, that could well change now in this post-leak world.

Of course, everything here should be treated with caution. Although the leak in question is a real leak, some details are missing context and may have changed over time. A 2024 release date for Pokemon Legends: ZA seems ambitious considering Pokemon Legends: Arceus only released in 2022, but currently it looks like that was actually the goal at one point.

For more Pokemon coverage – including all the latest Pokemon news, all the latest Pokemon rumors and leaks, and all the latest Pokemon deals – click here.