5 major game announcements The Pokémon Company might make on June 24

Game Freak and The Pokémon Company held a Pokémon Presents presentation on June 17 that was chock full of surprising reveals like New Pokémon Snap, Pokémon Smile, and Pokémon Cafe Mix. The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara closed out the presentation by revealing that yet another Pokémon Presents showcase would take place a week later on June 24 because "there is another big project we're working on that I still want to share with you."

What could this "big project" be? Here are Inverse's 5 best guesses.

5. An in-depth look at Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra DLC

Now that Pokémon Sword and Shield's first expansion, Isle of Armor, is released and out of the way, The Pokémon Company and Game Freak may want to shed some more light on the next expansion for the game. The Crown Tundra will be released this fall and should be even bigger and better than Isle of Armor. That being said, this would be perhaps the least interesting "big project" — and yet the most likely.

The Crown Tundra will add a brand new Wild Area, tons of returning Pokémon, some brand new legendary Pokémon, and even cooperative dungeon raids to Pokémon Sword and Shield. If the developers want to hone in on what makes the next expansion special, this second presentation will give them the opportunity to do it. The biggest thing going against this idea is that The Crown Tundra has a "fall 2020" release window, so it may not be shown off in more detail until later in the year.

4. Pokémon Sleep gets more details and a release date

During the 2019 Pokémon Press Conference, The Pokémon Company teased a new mobile app called Pokémon Sleep. At the time, the press release for it said "Pokémon Sleep aims to turn sleeping into entertainment by having a player's time spent sleeping, and the time they wake up, affect the gameplay," and confirmed that it will launch with a new peripheral called Pokémon GO Plus.

Sadly, we have not learned much more about the app since then, as it was even absent from the June 17 presentation. The Pokémon Presents show on June 24 will give The Pokémon Company yet another opportunity to unveil Pokémon Sleep to the people, though we aren't sure if a mobile game would count as a "big project" worthy of its own individual showcase. Still, we hope to learn more about Pokémon Sleep soon.

3. A Pokémon character is added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

One wild announcement for the next Pokémon Presentation would be to confirm that the next fighter in Super Smash Bros Ultimate Fighter Pass 2 is another Pokémon character. Inverse specifically thinks Sirfetch'd, who is part of a new event in Pokémon GO, would be a great fit for the fighting game.

This may be the least likely of the five, as the first DLC character from Fighter Pack 2 still hasn't been shown yet and this isn't being labeled as a Smash presentation like the last couple of fighter reveals. Still, this would be a breathtaking announcement and one worth its own presentation if it ever does come to fruition.

2. The new Detective Pikachu game is unveiled

Like Pokémon Sleep, a new Detective Pikachu game was teased during the 2019 Pokémon press conference. Following the success of the movie based on the concept, a sequel to the 3DS game that started this Pokémon sub-series makes a lot of sense. We haven't heard anything else about this new Detective Pikachu game since its announcement, which makes it very plausible that it will appear again on June 24.

In lieu of a new mainline Pokémon game, if the sequel to Detective Pikachu has a large scope it could very well fit the "big project" description given by Ishihara. Unless the announcement in question is something that hasn't even been revealed yet, a full unveiling of the new Detective Pikachu game seems like the most likely option.

1. A new mainline Pokémon game is confirmed

If you think The Pokémon Company should go big or go home, you're probably hoping that this is June 24's reveal. Even though Pokémon Sword and Shield just came in out in November and its DLC made it seem like we would get no new mainline Pokémon game would launch this year, The Pokémon Company could be planning to shock players with the announcement of a brand new full-fledged Pokémon game on June 24.

The Pokémon Company could show off the "Generation 9" series of new Pokémon titles, which are set in an all-new region with tons of new Pokémon. The turnaround seems a bit short for that though, so the more likely options are a Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee follow-up set in Johto or remakes of games set in Sinnoh: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. If one of these titles is real, they'd certainly warrant their own presentation that wasn't connected to the other June 17 announcement.

The Pokémon Company will make its next major announcement(s) on June 24, 2020.