You got your sight set on Victory Road!

You got your sight set on Victory Road!

Pokémon’s 2019 Dallas Regional was the last NA regional before the 2020 lockdowns. That meant that the Pokémon competitive scene was going on hiatus for an unknown amount of time. Fast forward to 2022, the Pokémon company announces the return of competitive play (regionals, and World announcement) and the interrupted 2019-2020 season continues from where it left off but two years later. Within those 2 years the Pokemon competitive scene grew with the help of the Pokémon online game. This strengthens the demand of players who were interested in competing IRL in the recently announced Regionals.

This new surge of attraction to the scene meant a need to accommodate a new wave of players. Not only did the Pokémon company set to meet the demand of players who are lucky enough to reserve a spot in a Regional but they also considered all of the players who would be watching from home cheering on their favorite deck or player, or tuning in to see what decks are the best in the current format.

This meant the Pokémon company had to rethink and innovate their streaming production to make sure the viewers at home felt the same excitement as the players attending IRL events. I’ve noticed that from their last streamed regional in 2019 to the most recent regional Orlando 2024 everything about its stream has changed and for the best in my opinion.

The last two years since the return of IRL events the Pokémon live streams have been evolving consistently throughout the last two seasons. The most recent and noticeable change is the intro into the live stream. Before the 2023-2024 Toronto regional the intro showed collages of competitive battle footage, and a brief individual showcasing of each competitive scene within the Pokémon community(TCG, GO, VGC) with commentator voiceover of the most heated battles. Personally, it was kind of hard to grasp what was being shown.

On the other hand, I think that the new intro video the Pokémon company has implemented into their live stream(Toronto’s 2024 Regional) embodies the competitive energy with its video. The new video breaks down each competitive scene(TCG, GO, VGC) into a 15-30sec montage of battle highlights. Not only did they give each respective game their spotlight they also paired it with a new song which I think gets you pumped for the streamed battles. Song lyrics like “Show’em watcha Got!” and “You got your sight set on Victory Road” written across battle-defying moments and finale celebrations.

Not only has the Pokémon company focused on improving their streams intro video, they have filled in the large wait gaps between streamed TCG battles. Which I think is great to enforce and strengthen the Pokémon TCG communities viewership and retention. They have also filled the stream with interviews of players and fellow regional attendees or the winners of the streamed battle at their newest lounge. They have also allowed for the community to choose which battles they would like to have streamed. These are all great additions to the deck analysis, How-to-play instructional videos they had already provided on their streams.

With all these new changes and innovations to the Pokémon regional live streams, I think the viewership will only grow. I hope to see more segment additions to the live stream where the viewer at home can engage in other ways besides tagging them on socials. I think providing QR codes to let viewers access videos & articles where they can see news about new products or updates would be very beneficial in promoting and exciting the Pokémon community. I also think having commentators tuning in through IG's live function or on any other platform would be great to have viewers engage with the community.