Pokemon Worlds Is Five Times the Size It Was in 2017, and It Shows

When Pokemon Worlds last came to Anaheim in 2017, it was still a relatively compact event. The entire convention — which included the tournaments, the Pokemon Center, and the fan areas — fit inside a single hall. With just under 5,000 attendees at the time, Anaheim’s 2017 Pokemon Worlds certainly carried the prestige of a world championship but could still be considered niche as far as competitive gatherings go, primarily drawing diehard fans and devoted trainers to its doors.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the difference couldn’t be any more obvious. This year’s Pokemon Worlds in Anaheim took up multiple halls, a massive plaza, and a dedicated arena for championship Sunday, with the one hall it used in 2017 now dedicated to the Pokemon Center alone. At the event, Game Rant spoke with Chris Brown, Director of Global Esports and Events for The Pokemon Company International, who explained just how much the event has grown and how that growth has fundamentally changed what Pokemon Worlds truly is.

Pokemon Worlds Went From the Tournament Hall to a Global Festival

At the core of those changes is just how much Pokemon Worlds has grown in scale since it was last in Anaheim eight years ago. In less than a decade, attendance at the event grew by five times at the very least. When asked about what the experience was like coming back to Anaheim and using the convention center for Pokemon Worlds, Brown replied,

“So that show [in 2017] was, I think, just shy of 5,000 attendees total, if I remember. And this show — the numbers came in recently, and there are still more people to check in — but we’re now in excess of 25,000 unique badged attendees at this show, so we’re five times the size than we were in 2017. We’re almost at double what we were a year ago in Honolulu, and there are still more people to check in for Sunday who have day passes and the rest of the day today.”

And this is precisely why Pokemon Worlds has had to reprioritize. In 2017, the event revolved almost entirely around competition. This year, however, Anaheim’s interconnected campus allowed The Pokemon Company to build something resembling more of a fan convention. The addition of pin trading, a collect-and-trade area, a full programming stage, and even creator meet-and-greets made Worlds feel like a celebration of the brand as a whole. Now, competitive matches were no longer the main event and instead simply became the heart of a much larger organism. As Brown explained,

“Back then, we were not doing pin trading. We didn’t have a collect and trade area. We didn’t have the programming stage with the panels. We didn’t have a creator meet and greet. None of those components were there back in 2017. Those are all things we’ve added to try to become more of an event to serve all of our fans.”

What’s interesting is that the franchise has been seeing increased accessibility across the board, whether it’s the Pokemon trading card game, video games, or even the competitive scene. In the same way, since 2017, Pokemon Worlds has quite literally become more accessible to the broader community of Pokemon followers as it aims to keep it all under one tent. Brown stressed that the goal isn’t to separate fans from competitive players, but to create an environment where both feel equally welcome. The result is a Worlds that plays out more like a celebration of all things Pokemon, where the competition is more of a showcase than the only reason to gather.

Pokemon Worlds 2025 clearly looks nothing like the Anaheim event from eight years ago. What was once a niche competitive meet-up has now exploded into a spectacle where tens of thousands of fans come together, all united by their love for Pokemon. Based on the numbers alone, its popularity is undeniable, but what makes it truly compelling is how it has effectively changed what Pokemon Worlds even means. It’s now no longer just about who walks away with the trophy but about what the event represents for the Pokemon community at large.