Pokémon dev Game Freak is shutting down Pandoland just 11 months after launch
Aside from giving Nintendo players fresh Pokémon adventures to dive into, developer Game Freak extends its talents to other projects, such as Pandoland. The studio’s casual RPG is a step away from creature capturing, offering a voxel art-style and over 500 characters as you sail around a cloud-shrouded world to find treasure. Despite launching globally in April last year, Game Freak is planning a full Pandoland shutdown later this year.
If you didn’t tune in for Pandoland’s release on April 21, 2025, then it may shock you to learn that less than 12 months will have passed by the time of its closure on Friday, March 6, 2026. In a recent social media post on X, Game Freak confirms that “Pandoland will cease service” from then, and that the studio wishes “to express our deepest gratitude for all the support and feedback we have received over the years.”
From the outside looking in, it seems like a shocking move, but looking closely at the game’s community is another story. According to the free mobile game tracker, Sensor Tower, Pandoland’s recent figures reflect around 10k downloads and just $9k of revenue in December 2025. It’s an increase from the game’s launch, which the outlet claims Pandoland saw just $1.1k in April 2025, before dropping down to a mere $288 at the end of the quarter last year.
That’s alongside a meager 1.9k application downloads. Following this, the game’s playerbase continues to dwindle. Over on the game’s subreddit, threads mostly consist of players looking for other users to team up with, as the game’s community struggles to complete certain quests. It’s unknown whether Game Freak will deploy an offline mode for the game, to at least enable solo play and the completion of specific missions.
Meanwhile, the developer is focusing its attention on the 30th anniversary of Pokémon. All the way through to Friday, February 27, 2026, you can expect various celebrations and announcements to appear. The anniversary specifically marks three decades since the launch of Pokémon Red and Green, so who knows, maybe some additional love for those classic titles is on the way.
We can definitely expect to see Pokémon Go, Pokémon TCG Pocket, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A join in the fun in some way. What are you hoping to see? Let us know over in the Pocket Tactics Discord server.
