About 50,000 people are attending PokémonXP and the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, California. Despite the huge turnout, The Pokémon Company International is aware of the disappointment among fans who either weren’t chosen for particular exclusive activities, or for tickets to the convention at all, and are already considering ways to improve. In a group interview, Chris Brown, Director, Global Esports and Events Producer at The Pokémon Company International, commented on the unique challenges producing an event with this much demand invites, how they may improve processes next time, and their plans for the future.

“The public is unaware of the level of demand,” Brown said. “And so, unfortunately, 50,000 people are coming [to PokémonXP], [but] more than that number get the disappointment of [not being] able to sign up.”

Interest list sign ups for 3-day Passes to PokémonXP, the first official Pokémon fan convention, began April 2, 2026, a little over seven months after it was announced during the closing ceremonies of the 2025 Pokémon World Championships. PokémonXP is occurring simultaneously as the Pokémon World Championships, which, last year, saw 30,000 attendees, more than double the number of the 2024 World Championships.

This year, demand far outnumbered supply, Brown said, with more than 130,000 people throwing their names into the hat for a 3-day or single-day badge to PokémonXP – more than twice the number of people who’d be granted entrance, which also includes competitors and their families.

“Basically, anytime your demand well outstrips your supply, the sort of interest list into lottery is the only real way you can handle that,” Brown said.

Source link