The Pokemon Sword/Shield Launch Event In Japan Has Been Cancelled

Last week, The Pokemon Company revealed that an official launch event for Pokemon Sword and Shield would take place at Sunshine City and Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo in Japan on November 15, 2019. If you were planning to pay a visit, however, we have some unfortunate news to report.

Today, The Pokemon Company (TPC) announced that it would be cancelling the launch event altogether. In particular, The Pokemon Company cited “operational circumstances” are to blame for the cancellation – although it did not elaborate further.

You can see the full notice below (rough translation by NintendoSoup):

“Dear Customers,

Thank you for your continued patronage.

The launch event for “Pocket Monsters Sword/Shield”, which was scheduled to be held at Sunshine City Fountain Square in Ikebukuro, Tokyo on November 15 (Friday), is canceled due to operational circumstances. We would like to express our sincere apologies to the customers who have planned or considered coming to the event, and apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

November 8, 2019
Pokémon Corporation

Notably, the games’ producer Junichi Masuda and Director Shigeru Ohmori were originally going to attend the event. There were also plans to have Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble mascots meet with attendees.

With the event’s cancellation, however, these highlights will no longer be taking place.

We’ll report back if we hear more. Stay tuned.

(Thanks for the news tip, Brandon.)

Update: We have more information on the cancellation which you might wanna read here.