Pokémon Go Dataminers Discount Early Launch for Pokémon Winds and Waves Creatures, Despite Earlier Hopes

UPDATE: Pokémon Go fans keen to get their paws on Gen 10 Pokémon may have to wait a little longer.

In an update posted this afternoon, top Pokémon Go datamining source The Pokemod Group discounted the earlier claim being discussed online that Browt, Pombon and Gecqua had already been referenced in the game's code.

While the trio of creatures will inevitably join Pokémon Go at some point, players will have to calm their Gen 10 excitement — for now.

ORIGINAL STORY: Fans may not have to wait until 2027 for the debut of Pokémon Winds and Waves' lovable starter Pokémon.

The Gen 10 trio — monobrowed Grass-type bird Browt, flame-furred Fire-type dog Pombon and sneaky-looking Water-type lizard Gecqua — were all revealed at the end of the first Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves trailer .

That same trailer also confirmed Pokémon's long-awaited 10th generation of games will debut on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027 — meaning a long wait still for the critters to fully arrive. But eagle-eyed Pokémon Go fans now believe the wait for Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua may actually be shorter than first expected.

According to a thread on top Pokémon Go fan reddit TheSilphRoad, datamining has sniffed out the first suggestion of the new starter creatures joining the game in the future, alongside content for other upcoming events.

Of course, these creatures were always destined to arrive in Pokémon Go at some point — the hit smartphone game now hosts the vast majority of species, and previous new generation launches have seen their creatures turn up in Pokémon Go around the same time, to promote their arrival. But this would be very early for data on the three species to be added — especially if Pokémon Winds and Waves don't launch until late 2027.

The mere suggestion that the three could debut in Pokémon Go much sooner would be a huge deal for the game, and for the Pokémon franchise. The evergreen Pokémon Go still welcomes millions of players daily and is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this summer — so it would be the perfect stage on which to fully debut the new creatures. Still, new starter Pokémon have never previously become obtainable before their associated mainline games' launch.

All of that said, Pokémon Go has led the charge on debuting a couple of new Pokémon species before — so this wouldn't be entirely unprecedented. Meltan memorably popped up in-game via a stunning and bewildering debut, suddenly in people's hands before anyone knew what was going on. Roaming Form Gimmighoul also debuted in Pokémon Go.

How soon could the trio arrive? For now, Pokémon Go is busy building to its biggest annual in-game event, Go Fest Global 2026, which this year will take place on July 11 and 12. Featuring the wide debut of Mega Mewtwo, the game's big weekend will this year be free to access for all players in celebration of Pokémon Go's 10-year anniversary, meaning no paying extra to access its questlines or boosted Shiny chances. After all of that, though, fans will hope the trio aren't too far behind.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social