Release Date speculation

[Xander Olivieri]

I think they just inadvertently hinted at the earliest a November release date with the Legendary Golems distributions for Pokemon Bank, which according to Serebii is supposed to last until October. These are only supposed to be for X, Y, and ORAS. So it seems we got until October 31st to play around a little more with Gen 6.

I don't think that indicates anything as the 20th anniversary download events continue onward until Christmas. So we'll still be downloading event exclusive Pokemon after Sun/Moon releases. The Bank events are all about 8 to 9 months long so it just feels like a normal length.

 

[Ho-Oh]

It also said Holiday 2016. What do we class a holiday? Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving? We know by the Nintendo Direct today (being based on Winter at the latest) that it's probably a safe bet that the game will release after mid-September, so no holidays before then count. By Holiday I'm thinking Holiday period, so it could end up being December, although I'm not entirely sure about that.

Based on what people think the games are probably around:

Spoiler:

Hawaii Holidays fitting in with this pattern:
November 24, November 11, November 8.

Spain Holidays fitting in with this pattern:
October 12, November 1, December 6.

England Holidays fitting in with this pattern:
November 5, November 13, November 30.

Singapore Holidays fitting in with this pattern:
29 October.

This is all without Christmas/Halloween in mind. Soooo October 12 onwards seems like safest bet for a generic "Holidays 2016" bet. THEN you consider the fact that it said Holidays 2016 in an English version. The only other holidays that fit in after Winter are from 16 December (based on America, being the biggest out of the English versions). In other words, based off the confusing things that have been said it's pretty much impossible to make a solid guess now, because everything we can guess is all over the place. I'm betting probably mid-November now, as it is roughly the start of the Holiday period, it'll allow people to get Pokemon for Xmas, and not forget about Pokemon over Xmas.

 

[Hikamaru]

Apparently Amazon has listed pre-orders for Sun & Moon and the speculated release date according to the site is December 30th, 2016. That is like extremely late for a Pokemon game to come out, given Christmas would have been over by then. If this proves to be true, not only will the game miss out on my birthday, but Christmas as well.

 

[Drakorn]

I have a feeling it's going to be released on the 25th November, or at least the end of November.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

The different languages say something different. English (well America's) says Holiday 2016. In Spanish it says 'available at year's end'. Japanese says Winter 2016, as does Chinese. I couldn't capture the french one as it went by fast.

 

[TCB]

So based on that we're still looking at a Holiday/Winter 2016 outlook regardess.

My money will see it being released between November 20th and December 10th. Judging how ORAS's release was more a worldwide affair (except Europe, sorry Europe) on the date of the 21st which was a Saturday, then we may get the releases on the 28th of November. Then again, X&Y's release fell on a Monday, which is unusual for traditional Nintendo releases anyway correct?

 

[Bounsweet]

Apparently Amazon has listed pre-orders for Sun & Moon and the speculated release date according to the site is December 30th, 2016. That is like extremely late for a Pokemon game to come out, given Christmas would have been over by then. If this proves to be true, not only will the game miss out on my birthday, but Christmas as well.

Placeholder dates always default to December 30th, you'll see that with a ton of other games available for pre-order without official release dates (Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, etc.) that just means it's expected soon enough to pre-order but the exact date isn't known. I kind of feel like it'll either be a November game or possibly even spring of next year, we're supposed to be getting big news in April's Corocoro but even with XY we had 10 months between announcement and release date.

I kind of have a gut feeling it'll either be November 19, November 26, or possibly even December 3 but that last one would be pushing it a bit.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Placeholder dates always default to December 30th, you'll see that with a ton of other games available for pre-order without official release dates (Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, etc.) that just means it's expected soon enough to pre-order but the exact date isn't known. I kind of feel like it'll either be a November game or possibly even spring of next year, we're supposed to be getting big news in April's Corocoro but even with XY we had 10 months between announcement and release date.

I kind of have a gut feeling it'll either be November 19, November 26, or possibly even December 3 but that last one would be pushing it a bit.

It's for this year, unless we get a delay. Looking at the past games the releases since reveal have been OrAs: 6, XY: 10, B2W2: 4 (Jp), BW 5 (jp), (forgot HgSs) and 4 (Pt). I'm assuming a nine month gap.

 

[Hikamaru]

I think it'll likely be November as well. Probably predicting it to be close to ORAS's release date.

And I do agree with ORandAS, nine months seems like a reasonable gap that looks close to most previous games.

 

[gimmepie]

I'm predicting November as well. They'll want to get the release out whilst people are starting to do their Christmas shopping. Much better for sales that way whilst still giving them plenty of time to iron out any kinks.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm predicting November as well. They'll want to get the release out whilst people are starting to do their Christmas shopping. Much better for sales that way whilst still giving them plenty of time to iron out any kinks.

I think you're on the right track here. November seems to be a huge time for new products to come out especially because it's close to Christmas and it makes sense because many people will be shopping around that time.

 

[Neil Peart]

I would release it on Black Friday, or at the very least, immediately following Black Friday. That way it's out there for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

 

[TCB]

Its potential release around Black Friday/Cyber Monday really is a no brainer.

 

[KillerTyphlosion]

Well as always it will be in the last quarter of the year so who knows?
X/Y and ORAS both came out in october so you could speculate that it
will come out in october/early november. But I do not think the pokémon
games will be released on a region specific holiday. Black friday is USA
only I think so I doubt they would do it on that date. We may even see an
early summer release so we could enjoy pokémon in the holidays, but frankly
that is just me hoping. Most of the main games have been released in september, october and november (japanese release dates) with a few exceptions.

 

[MarinoKadame]

Actually ORAS came out on November 21, XY came out on October 12.

 

[TrainerAsherZ]

December 26th Since everyone would have money and gift cards from Christmas:)

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I expect to that we'll have a full release date announced before the end of Spring (N.H.)/Fall (S.H.) aka June 21st.

 

[TrainerAsherZ]

I expect to that we'll have a full release date announced before the end of Spring (N.H.)/Fall (S.H.) aka June 21st.

What about at E3?

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

What about at E3?

E3 is in mid June, so it fits my expected window. The time between now and the end of June is sure to have some interesting news.

 

[Hikamaru]

E3 is in mid June, so it fits my expected window. The time between now and the end of June is sure to have some interesting news.

I pretty much agree with you, it seems like a reasonable amount of time to drop a lot of major information.