Pokémon Champions: Some players may face a slow start

Tomorrow, April 8, 2026, is the day: with Pokémon Champions for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 (currently $426 on Amazon), The Pokémon Company is giving competitive players a dedicated game focused entirely on battling each other. Before jumping into the first matches, however, players first need to build a functional team – and for those who neither have well-stocked boxes in Pokémon Home nor want to spend real money on Champions, that could turn into a lengthy process.

As announced in the overview trailer, there are two ways to obtain battle-ready Pokémon in Pokémon Champions – by transferring them via Pokémon Home or through in-game “Recruiting.” However, players only get one free Pokémon per day and that Pokémon disappears again after seven days. Anyone who wants to recruit multiple Pokémon per day and keep them permanently has to buy them using the in-game currency “VP.”

It is still unknown whether players will receive any starting funds at launch and how much of that currency can be earned per day. Right now, it looks as though the opening phase could be quite slow for new players who do not pay and do not already have their own Pokémon roster, leaving them limited to a small selection of monsters at first. Players who have already competed in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet or Sword and Shield, on the other hand, should already be able to put together a viable team based on the Pokémon currently known to be available in Pokémon Champions and hit the ground running at launch.