The Pokemon Company have announced the Pokemon World Championships 2021 have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament would have featured competitions for the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield video games, Pokken World Tournament DX, and the Pokemon Trading Card Game. However, the tournaments have once again been cancelled due to COVID-19.

While the event was set to take place in London, England- the nation that inspired the Galar region in Sword and Shield- The Pokemon Company explained in a statement it cancelled the event after advice from local authorities, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Specifically, they state the tournament has been “moved” to 2022 and will remain in London, with all invitations from the 2020 championships being honored for next year’s event. The Pokemon World Championships were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, and were also due to take place in London.

The Pokemon Company are continuing to monitor the situation in various countries on a case-by-case basis. As with 2020, they will continue to support tournaments via online play and the Pokemon Players Cup, Play! Pokemon Team Challenge, and League at Home.

In addition, The Pokemon Company announced they are working on fixing availability for products for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The company are printing more to deal with the situation of limited availability. Future expansions will also have “maximized production” to ensure there is more availability at launch.