First Pokemon Direct of 2020 Announced

The first Pokemon Direct of 2020 is set for this Thursday, January 9. the Direct will air at 9:30 a.m. EST/6:30 a.m. PST. The Nintendo livestream should last roughly 20 minutes or so.

Outside of “Pokemon,” what the Direct will cover is anyone’s guess. The only announced Pokemon initiatives we know of so far are Pokemon Home, which is the successor to Pokemon Bank, whispers of a Detective Pikachu 2, and some new initiative between The Pokemon Company and Chinese media firm Tencent.

There’s usually at least one new Pokemon game launched every year, and speculation is rife that fan-favorites Diamond and Pearl might be getting remade — but it’s just speculation at this point. 

We usually expect a Pokemon Direct early in the year, but what makes this one so interesting is the anticipated run time. Joe Merrick of Serebii.net tweeted a list of previous Pokemon Directs and their run times.

In the past seven years, only two have approached 20 minutes: the September 2013 Direct preceding Pokemon X and Y‘s October launch and the pre-E3 2019 Direct unloading a ton of Sword and Shield information.

Of course, the September 2013 Direct also served as an extended showcase for connectivity and transfer features in X and Y, so this early 2020 Direct might just be about new features coming to Sword and Shield.

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more information about whatever Game Freak reveals during the January 9 Pokemon Direct. We’ll have the news right here once it breaks.