Digimon Up is set to bring a new spin-off to mobile later this year

• Digimon Up has been announced and is slated as a new digital pet app for the franchise
• It also features TCG elements and is set for a 2026 release on iOS and Android
• At the moment, it appears that it will also be a global release

While it's arguably existed constantly in the shadow of its biggest rival, Pokémon, I think few would dispute that Digimon has often capitalised in the world of video games. The franchise, it seems, has never hesitated to experiment with entries like Digimon Survive, or, in this case, the upcoming mobile spinoff Digimon Up!

It looks to me (an admitted non-fan) to be a pretty comfortable return to the days of digital pets, with the promise that this new mobile spinoff will contain many familiar elements, such as the actual TCG as part of its mechanics. Naturally, you'll be able to care for, evolve and power-up your favourite Digimon to boot.

Whether that means this'll be a mixture of the actual trading card battles and digital pets, or focus more on the latter, isn't yet clear. But what is clear is that Digimon Up is slated for a 2026 release on both iOS and Android.

Up, up, up

Again, I'm not a massive Digimon fan, so some of this is lost on me. But from what we know so far, my guess is that this will mix some Tamagatchi-like digital pet elements and then also let you battle them as you might expect from something like, well, Pokémon or Digimon.

For the moment, all we know about the release is that it's coming this year and will be on both Google Play and the iOS App Store. While most of the initial coverage was purely Japanese, it does seem this will be an international release if the official site is anything to go by. So watch this space, especially if you're a Digimon fan!

Although if you want to see how much mobile has changed over the years, there's no better way than by digging into our ongoing 20th anniversary Pocket Gamer retrospective, where we dig into all the most notable events that took place over our twenty-year history!