Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass on Sale Today: Dive Goes Free, Bubbly Basin in August

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company revealed during Tuesday's Nintendo Direct that Pokémon Pokopia — the Switch 2 life sim that has sold more than 4 million copies since its March 5 launch — is getting a paid three-part Expansion Pass and a free software update, both arriving in August 2026. The Expansion Pass went on sale on the Nintendo eShop immediately after the broadcast ended; pricing has not been confirmed. Existing players who skip the purchase entirely will still gain access to the new Dive ability, which lets Ditto explore and build underwater for the first time.

What Dive Unlocks — and Who Gets It Free

The Dive ability, granted to players' Ditto through the free August software update, opens the ocean floor as buildable terrain. To unlock it, players must complete the "Raise the Environment Level" request at Bleak Beach, a step that requires both the Jump ability and the Surf move to already be active. Once Dive is in hand, the entire underwater world — visible but inaccessible since the game's launch — becomes fair game for construction and Pokémon habitat creation.

This free/paid split is significant in context. Prior Pokémon expansion passes — including the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass, which debuted in 2020 for $29.99 — placed all new areas exclusively behind the paywall. In Pokopia, the ability to navigate the underwater environment costs nothing; only the new town content and new Pokémon tied to Bubbly Basin require a purchase. That design choice, made by co-developers Game Freak and Koei Tecmo's Omega Force, ensures that every existing player gains meaningful new capability without paying.

Bubbly Basin: Part 1 of Three

The first wave of paid content, Part 1: Bubbly Basin, is a fully underwater town that arrives in August alongside the free update. Confirmed new Pokémon include Mudkip, Popplio, and Corphish, along with new furniture sets and new outfits for Ditto. Players who purchase the pass at or before launch will also receive a Dynamic Ditto print recipe at no additional charge, as confirmed by Nintendo's Expansion Pass reveal.

Part 2, slated for late 2026, will bring "additional new features" that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have not yet described. Part 3, arriving in 2027, will introduce an entirely new town. All three parts are bundled into a single Expansion Pass purchase; the combined price has not been announced.

How Omega Force Built a Game That Could Expand Underwater

Pokopia runs on Koei Tecmo's proprietary Katana Engine, developed internally by the company's Future Tech Base division. The engine has powered Omega Force's most technically demanding titles — including the action hunting game Wild Hearts and Rise of the Rōnin — and is specifically designed to support fluid simulation alongside automatic level-of-detail generation. The fluid simulation capability is what makes the Dive update architecturally feasible: the engine already handles dynamic water behavior, and underwater environments represent an extension of systems the team had already built and shipped.

The choice to bring in Omega Force as co-developer was made precisely because Game Freak, which created Pokopia's concept and oversees the franchise direction, had no prior experience in sandbox game development. Omega Force director Takuto Edagawa and art director Marina Ayano, both veterans of Dragon Quest Builders 2, led the technical build. Omega Force assembled its largest team in company history for the project, with Edagawa noting that a roughly three-to-four-month alignment period between the two studios resolved core design questions before development began in earnest.

The result was a game that critics described as a synthesis of Minecraft, Animal Crossing, and Viva Piñata, with a Metacritic score of 90 at launch — the highest-rated Pokémon game in franchise history, and the highest-rated game of 2026 at the time of its release. The Expansion Pass confirms that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company intend to maintain that quality trajectory into 2027.

How to Prepare Before August

To be ready for the free Dive update, players should prioritize unlocking both the Jump ability and the Surf move through normal gameplay progression. Both are prerequisites for the Bleak Beach request that grants Dive. Players who have not yet visited Bleak Beach should check their environment level in that area.

For players deciding whether to purchase the Expansion Pass: the pass is on sale now on the Nintendo eShop. Pricing has not been announced, so the per-part cost relative to prior Pokémon expansion passes cannot yet be compared. Nintendo has indicated no deadline for purchasing at the launch price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass worth buying?

Whether the Expansion Pass is worth purchasing depends on how much content is eventually revealed for Parts 2 and 3, and on the as-yet-undisclosed price. Part 1: Bubbly Basin adds an entirely new underwater town with new Pokémon, furniture, outfits, and building materials. Players who want only the Dive swimming ability do not need the pass — that feature is free for all owners in the August update.

What Pokémon are in Pokémon Pokopia Bubbly Basin?

Confirmed new Pokémon joining Pokopia via the Bubbly Basin DLC include Mudkip, Popplio, and Corphish. Additional Pokémon may be announced closer to the August 2026 release of Part 1.

Is Dive free in Pokémon Pokopia?

Yes. The Dive ability — which lets players take Ditto underwater to build and explore — is part of a free software update arriving in August 2026 for all Pokopia owners. To unlock it, players must complete the "Raise the Environment Level" request at Bleak Beach after first acquiring the Jump ability and Surf move.

When does the Pokémon Pokopia DLC come out?

Part 1: Bubbly Basin is scheduled for August 2026. Part 2, containing additional new gameplay features, is planned for late 2026. Part 3, which adds a new town, is expected in 2027. The Expansion Pass covering all three parts went on sale on the Nintendo eShop on June 9, 2026, though pricing has not been confirmed.