2023 Pokemon World Championships VGC disqualifies multiple players, here’s why

The 2023 Pokemon World Championships kicked off yesterday, August 11, 2023, at PACIFICO Yokohama Convention Center in Yokohama, Japan. It is the biggest in-person Pokemon event yet. With a prize pool of over USD100,000, players participating in the various events will go above and beyond to make an impact and secure a place on the podium. While everyone is expected to abide by the rules and regulations, you can be assured that a handful will resort to unfair means to make it to the top.

This article will examine why multiple players have been disqualified at the 2023 Pokemon World Championships.

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Tournament officials disqualify VGC players for using hacked Pocket Monsters at The 2023 Pokemon World Championships

Luminosity, the 2023 Pokemon World Champions (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Japan is stringent regarding fair play in video game competitions. The Pokemon World Championships have been no exception, as multiple professional Pokemon trainers were disqualified for using “hacked Pocket Monsters” at the VGC.

Now, to get a creature with perfect stats, you can:

• Spend hours grinding the game for the perfect beast for your roster.
• Breed and train them to get the ideal stats.
• Use a software called PKHeX to tamper with your game’s save file and manipulate the stats of your creatures to make them ideal for your team.

The last method is significantly frowned upon by the Pokemon community. Even if you edit the creatures in your roster to the level of legal ones, it is considered cheating. If you get caught with one such hacked creature at the Pokemon World Championships, you will get disqualified instantaneously.

Such was the case with a trainer who used “modified or genned Pokemon” in his roster at Worlds.

The trainer, Brad Smith, took to Twitter to rant. They said:

“DQ’d at 2-0. Should have gotten my mons myself! Half my team was modified/genned. I didn’t have Legends of Arceus to get the Lando. And I didn’t have my copy of Sword/Shield to get Urshifu. I tried trading for the mons with a reputable trader, but the mons didn’t pass. Here’s the paste I was gonna use, sorry y’all. I’ll do better next time”

They also shared their roster for which they got disqualified. You can find it here.

We are unaware if their claims are valid, but we must take them at face value since they cannot be proven otherwise.

It is unclear how the tournament organizers are cracking down on these hacked creatures, as Brad was not the only person to be disqualified. Other prominent names like Roberto Parente and Francesco Pio Pero, who came 16th at the 2022 Worlds and 8th at the Liverpool Regional Championships, were also disqualified for using hacked or genned ‘mons on their roster.

While modding your creatures might seem necessary to reach the top and come out with flying colors, it does ruin the integrity of the competition. Whether genned creatures should be allowed in the Pokemon World Championships can be heavily debated.

We would like to know your opinion on this. Leave a comment down below and let us know if you would or if you have ever used hacked Pokemon in these competitions.