The next mainline Pokémon generation may have lost a full year before the public ever heard its name. A new leak claims Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves were internally scheduled to launch in November 2026, only for that plan to be scrapped weeks before the games were revealed.
Pokémon anime leaker Moot is behind the claims, and his account of the timeline was reported by Dexerto. Moot claims the decision to move both games to November 2027 was made internally in January 2026, shortly before their official announcement, because the games were not ready for release.
Pokémon Horizons Reportedly Absorbed the Fallout
Pokémon Horizons is where the reported fallout landed hardest. The anime was originally supposed to conclude with episode 136, but Moot claims The Pokémon Company convinced animation studio OLM to extend it with an additional arc introducing elements from Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves.
That extension was reportedly built on the assumption the games would arrive in late 2026. When the timeline moved, the production team reportedly stripped the references back out — including, Moot claims, replacing a rumored Gen 10 Pokémon named Konetsu with Ditto.
The reshuffle reportedly created a deeper scheduling problem, because several members of the anime's production team had already committed to other projects. Another extension would therefore be difficult, and Moot claims Pokémon Horizons will instead enter a hiatus around March 2027.
New episodes reportedly would not resume until October or November 2027, when the series would return with a final arc tied to Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves. A separate Pokémon anime said to be in pre-production reportedly would not premiere until 2029 under the revised schedule.
The claim would also explain the one detail that puzzled players at the reveal. A new Pokémon generation skipping the franchise's 30th anniversary year looked odd in February, and a last-minute internal delay would account for why the anniversary is passing without a mainline launch.
The stakes of the reported slip would be high on the hardware side as well. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has described Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves as a crucial release for the Nintendo Switch 2 as the console enters its third year, which would make a year-long internal delay a significant reshuffle rather than a routine polishing delay.
The Official Word on Pokémon Winds and Waves
What is official is much narrower than the leak. The Pokémon Company announced Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, developed by Game Freak, in February 2026 with a 2027 release window, and the pair remain Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives with no specific date attached.
None of the reported timeline — not the November 2026 plan, the January decision, or the anime hiatus — has been confirmed by The Pokémon Company, Nintendo or Game Freak. Until any of them comments, Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves are officially 2027 releases, and the missing year stays a leak.
Source: Moot via Dexerto & Centro LEAKS
