Just a couple of months ago, it was revealed that the Detective Pikachu live-action movie is slated to start filming next year. When it comes to news related to the Nintendo 3DS game on which the motion picture is based, though, it looks as if the title could be coming to both Europe and North America thanks to a listing from the European rating board, PEGI.

As seen in the tweet below from the Pokemon-related website Serebii, Detective Pikachu has been given a PEGI 3, denoting that the game is intended for younger audiences starting at the age of 3, but is suitable for older ages as well. Not to mention, the listing also shows a release date of December 31, 2020, but as Serebii has noted, the time stated is being used as placeholder until the official launch date is revealed by Nintendo.

For the uninitiated, Detective Pikachu was released in 2016 as The Great Detective Pikachu in Japan, with the title being a playful mystery solver that partners a young boy with a talking version of Pikachu that's a coffee-fueled gumshoe. When the game was initially announced, fans of the Pokemon franchise started an online petition to have Nintendo hire the actor Danny DeVito as the voice of Pikachu in the game, which didn't come to pass. And with Deadpool's Ryan Reynolds now voicing the titular character in the aforementioned movie, it seems unlikely DeVito will be cast for the potential international version of the game.

Taking all of this into account, the fact that Detective Pikachu was well received in Japan upon its launch last year, and that a second chapter to the story has already been promised by developers, diehard Pokemon fans in the West will likely be elated to have the chance to play it. Of course, Nintendo hasn't openly commented on the PEGI rating for Detective Pikachu, so fans will have to wait until the announcement from the Big N before celebrating a launch in Europe and North America.

Detective Pikachu is available now for Nintendo 3DS in Japan, and is currently awaiting an official confirmation for European and North American release.

Source: Serebii – Twitter