During today’s Pokemon Direct presentation, Pokemon Sword and Shield developer Game Freak revealed the release window for the upcoming Pokemon Home service. Pokemon Home was originally announced last summer, and was described as a new cloud-based Pokemon storage service for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android.
Pokemon Home will serve as the successor to Nintendo’s Pokemon Bank app for the 3DS. It will be the main storage solution for Pokemon going forward, and supports the transferring of Pokemon from Pokemon Bank, Pokemon GO, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Pokemon Sword and Shield. The app will allow users to trade Pokemon with friends and others around the world either locally or online. However, Pokemon Home can’t be used to transfer Pokemon to older titles - only Pokemon Sword and Shield can both deposit and withdraw Pokemon from the cloud. This became part of the huge controversy surrounding Pokemon Sword and Shield, which Game Freak tried its best to pacify in the latest Pokemon Direct.
After detailing the newly-unveiled Expansion Pass for Pokemon Sword and Shield, Game Freak announced that Pokemon Home will be made available for download next month. After purchasing a subscription, users can bring Pokemon added through the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass into their game even if they don’t own the pass itself. This functionality will be part of the free updates coming to Pokemon Sword and Shield in the near future, and Game Freak stated that more details will be forthcoming.
The Direct also presented a lot of other information about the future of Pokemon. The expansions will add over 200 well-known Pokemon to Sword and Shield, including legendary Pokemon from previous generations. Brand new legendary Pokemon will also be part of the expansions, such as the Galar region’s own trio of legendary birds and a pair of new “Regi”-type legendaries. Both the Isle of Armor expansion and the Crown Tundra expansion are said to be packed with content, and will be released in June 2020 and Fall 2020 respectively.
Despite the fan furor stemming from some of Game Freak’s design decisions, Pokemon Sword and Shield have still shattered sales records. Some of the grievances that longtime Pokemon players have are justified, but a lot of the fan reaction to these latest titles has been disproportionate. Pokemon Home’s forward-only functionality and the fact that a large number of absent Pokemon are only being added to the games as part of a paid expansion may upset those fans again. However, Game Freak seems determined to make Sword and Shield the most appealing games they can be, even to those who have been put off by them.
Next: Pokemon Sword & Shield’s Expanding Pokedex Is Proof Game Freak Is Listening
Pokemon Home releases in February 2020.
Source: Nintendo Pokemon Direct January 9
