The Pokémon Company International made an important announcement earlier today for anyone attending the Pokémon World Championships 2016 in San Francisco next week – for the first time ever, the event will be closed to the general public.
In their statement, released this afternoon, the company explained:
“Only invited players and their families will be permitted to enter the venue this year, and everyone must have an official event badge.”
The company gave “limited venue capacity and overwhelming demand” as their reasoning for this rather late announcement, although the failed mass shooting plot that took place at last year’s event, while not specifically mentioned by the those at Pokémon Company HQ, may well have been a deciding factor in these new regulations, too.
Many fans are likely to be dismayed at hearing this change in entry regulations, but all is not lost. For those that wish to follow the action as it happens, the event will be broadcast live across 4 different channels at Pokemon.com/Live. A schedule for the live-streams can be found here, although the times are subject to change — so do keep an eye on the page as the weekend draws closer.
The Pokémon World Championships is the event of the year for hardcore Pokémon gamers. Each year, participants from over 35 countries come together to compete for the title of World Champion, along with a share of the $500,000 worth of prizes, consisting of scholarships, cash prizes, and travel certificates.
This year the Championships will take place in San Francisco on August 19th-21st.
