Screenshot 2022 02 28 At 10.29.03 Am

The announcement of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet yesterday almost didn't happen, The Pokémon Company has revealed.

A statement has been released by the company which says that it wished to be "sensitive" to real-world events taking place right now – presumably a reference to Russia's ongoing invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine – but was unable to postpone the pre-scheduled event.

As a result, the choice was made to not heavily promote the announcement.

Here's the full statement:

We wish to be sensitive to major world events happening at this time and those impacted. A pre-scheduled Pokémon Presents was unable to be postponed. Out of respect to our global audiences, we decided to significantly reduce the promotion of the event while giving fans the option to tune if they chose to do so.