Pokémon’s Next Frontier Could Be Smart Glasses, Watches and Rings

The Pokémon Company is not announcing a Pokémon smartwatch, smart glasses or smart ring. Instead, president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara described wearable technology as a challenge for the franchise’s future, suggesting that Pokémon should be integrated more deeply into devices people wear every day. 2

What Ishihara actually said

Speaking during the “Producing Pokémon: A Conversation with Mr. Ishihara” panel at the inaugural PokémonXP event in San Francisco, Ishihara pointed to smartwatches, smart glasses and smart rings as potential areas for exploration. The emphasis was on finding new ways to make Pokémon part of an experience, rather than simply releasing another themed accessory. 12

That distinction matters: there was no specific product announcement, launch date or confirmed hardware partnership. The news is strategic interest in wearables, not a Pokémon-branded device that fans can buy.

From pocket accessories to persistent play

Ishihara contrasted the possible future with earlier companion devices such as the Pokéwalker and Pokémon GO Plus. Those products extended Pokémon beyond the main game, but functioned more like optional tools or “secret weapons” that players could pull from a pocket. 2

Smartphones changed that model. Instead of treating connectivity as an occasional accessory feature, Pokémon could use a device that players already carried throughout the day as the foundation for persistent, real-world play. That shift helped establish the broader design space later associated with Pokémon GO: connecting digital characters and game systems with movement and the physical world.

The next step, if Pokémon pursues it, would be to make the wearable itself part of the play loop rather than a peripheral attached to a phone.

Pokémon Sleep offers a current wearable precedent

The clearest near-term example is the Fitbit Air Special Edition Pokémon Sleep. Google says the tracker can connect sleep activity—including overnight sleep and naps—to the Pokémon Sleep app, where the data unlocks interactive rewards. 29

That is still a relatively focused integration: a wearable measures sleep, and the game turns that data into progression. But it demonstrates the basic principle Ishihara described—an everyday activity becoming part of Pokémon rather than requiring players to sit down in front of a traditional game.

Watches and rings could support similarly passive interactions around activity, movement or other daily routines. Smart glasses could go further by placing Pokémon-related information or characters into a player’s view. Those possibilities are interpretations of the direction Ishihara discussed, not confirmed features.

Why smart glasses could be the biggest leap

A smartwatch or ring would mainly add new sensors, notifications or low-friction inputs. Glasses could change the relationship between the player and the game’s world by making Pokémon feel present in the surrounding environment.

That could mean hands-free prompts, location-aware encounters or virtual characters appearing in a player’s immediate surroundings. It would extend the real-world design logic associated with Pokémon GO, but potentially make the experience more ambient and less dependent on looking down at a phone.

The technology alone would not guarantee a successful game. Ishihara’s comments point to a deeper creative problem: Pokémon would need to make wearable interactions feel like meaningful play, not merely like notifications or branded fitness tracking.

Ishihara’s long view of Pokémon

Ishihara is not an outside executive speculating about the franchise. He was involved in the early Pokémon games as a producer and founded Creatures Inc., later becoming president and CEO of The Pokémon Company. 3335

That history helps explain his focus on technology as a way to create new forms of play. His remarks at PokémonXP connected the franchise’s past experiments with hardware and connectivity to a much longer ambition: continuing to develop experiences that remain exciting not just today, but across “three or four generations” in the future. 2

The real takeaway

Pokémon’s wearable future remains undefined, but Ishihara’s remarks reveal the direction of travel. The franchise is considering how smartwatches, glasses and rings could become integrated parts of play, building on the Pokéwalker, Pokémon GO Plus and Pokémon Sleep rather than simply repeating the accessory model.

For now, fans should treat smart-glasses Pokémon and other wearable concepts as possibilities, not announcements. The important question is whether Pokémon can use ambient technology to create a genuinely new game—one that makes the physical world feel more playful—rather than adding a familiar character to another piece of hardware.