Pokemon Closes Doors To Fans At World Championships

Only a week before its World Championships are set to begin, the Pokemon Company has announced a major change to this year's event. The company announced that this year's event will be closed to the general public due to "limited venue capacity and overwhelming demand". This year's World Championships is set to take place from August 19-21 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in San Francisco.

In order to attend the event, you either need to be an invited player or an official "Guest" of an attendee. Each player under the age of 18 will be given a single Guest pass to allow a parent or guardian into each event, and other Guest passes will be distributed on a "first-come, first served" basis.

Oddly enough, the Pokemon Company made the announcement just a week before the World Championship was set to begin, long after possible attendees made their travel and hotel arrangements. According to the Marriott Marquis's website, the hotel has 117,000 square feet in event space and has ballrooms that can accommodate between 2,000 and 5,500 people. Attendance for last year's World Championships was not available, but previous events reportedly drew around 3,000 attendees in addition to 400-500 participants.

This year's World Championships will still be streamed on Twitch and Pokemon's website, with separate coverage for Pokken Tournament, the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and the tradition Pokemon video game tournaments.