Pokémon Pokopia Between Free Updates and Seasonal Pass

The free update will arrive in August 2026, while the Expansion Pass is already available for purchase on Nintendo eShop and will accompany the game with new content through 2027.

The free update: you will finally be able to explore the seabed

The most important new feature of the free update is the introduction of the Sub move, which will allow the protagonist to dive and explore the sea depths, opening up a new portion of the map that was previously unreachable.

The underwater areas will offer new resources to collect, new habitats to reconstruct, and exclusive Pokémon to befriend, further expanding the creative possibilities that have made Pokopia one of the most acclaimed titles of 2026.

How to obtain the Sub move

The move will not be available from the beginning of the adventure.

To unlock it, you will need to have reached an advanced stage of the main progression and have befriended Lapras, one of the Pokémon that already allows you to cross water surfaces. After meeting these requirements, a new series of missions dedicated to sea exploration will begin, culminating in learning the move Sub, allowing you to dive freely whenever you are near a suitable aquatic area.

The Expansion Pass also makes its debut

Along with the free update comes the Pokémon Pokopia - Expansion Pass, which represents the game's first real paid content.

The first expansion will take players to a completely underwater new setting, designed to expand the more relaxing and creative side of Pokopia, offering additional tools to customize their own world and continue building the ideal paradise for Pokémon.

What is Pokémon Pokopia

Announced in September 2025 and released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5, 2026, Pokémon Pokopia represents one of the most original spin-offs ever made for the franchise.

Developed by Game Freak in collaboration with Omega Force (Koei Tecmo), the game completely abandons the traditional RPG structure of the main series to offer an experience halfway between a life simulator, a creative sandbox, and a management game.

The player takes on the role of a Ditto transformed into a human, tasked with bringing life back to a world long abandoned by building habitats, growing resources, constructing buildings, and befriending over 300 Pokémon from the first nine generations. Each Pokémon teaches new moves useful for exploration and transforming the surrounding environment, creating a relaxing yet progression-rich gameplay loop.

An immediate success

Pokopia turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of 2026.

Critics received it extremely positively, going so far as to call it one of the best Pokémon spin-offs ever thanks to its relaxing atmosphere and the perfect balance between exploration, building, and collecting.

The public also responded enthusiastically: the title sold 2.2 million copies in the first four days, of which about one million were in Japan alone, later reaching 4 million copies sold worldwide by the end of March 2026. Numbers that established it as one of the first major commercial successes of Nintendo Switch 2.

A future full of content

With the arrival of the free update and the Expansion Pass, Nintendo shows that it wants to support Pokémon Pokopia in the long term.

The exploration of the seabeds represents only the first step of a roadmap that will accompany the game at least through 2027, with new areas, Pokémon, items, and features destined to further expand a title that, in just a few months, has managed to win over both fans of the Pokémon series and lovers of relaxing and creative games.