Japanese Set ‘World Down’ Renamed to ‘Infinity Zone’ in Unprecedented Move

Japan’s third Sword & Shield set has been renamed from World Down to Infinity Zone according to its Amazon preorder page. We previously reported World Down would feature Eternatus VMAX and release in July.

This is the first time a set has been renamed. It’s possible Pokemon feared “World Down” could be misinterpreted as a reference to the coronavirus events currently affecting the globe. However, this is only speculation. The set hasn’t been publicly announced yet, so it’s unlikely we’ll receive an official explanation.

It does seem the name change was a last-minute decision though. The trademark for the original name was filed in January. The Amazon page and several other distributors also listed the original name in February when they first put up their preorder pages. The distributors and Amazon get their information directly from Pokemon, so it’s highly unlikely Pokemon would send them an outdated name.

We know Pokemon Japan prints their sets at least a few months in advance. Infinity Zone is three months out, so perhaps they were getting ready to print the set and were able to change the packaging in time (assuming the coronavirus theory is correct). TPCi prints their sets a little further in advance since the sets are printed in the U.S. and then shipped around the world.

The new set name, Mugen Zone, is a play on Eternatus’s Japanese name Mugendina, which itself is based on the word mugendai for “infinity.”