pokemon home
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Pokémon Home is now available on Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android
After a short wait, Pokémon Home is now available to download on iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo-made app allows you to transfer your Pokémon to the franchise's latest entry, Pokémon Sword and Shield, from past Switch and 3DS games like Pokémon X and Y. In the future, it will also work with Pokémon Go.
Pokémon Home costs three times more than the service it replaces
Ahead of the launch of Pokémon Home sometime next month, Nintendo has shared pricing for the upcoming cross-platform storage and transfer service. A month of the Premium subscription to Pokémon Home will set you back $3 every 30 days. Nintendo also plans to offer quarterly and annual subscription options, in which case you'll need to pay either $5 every three months or $16 per year. That is a significant increase from the cost of Pokémon Bank. The 3DS-exclusive service currently costs $5 annually.
Pokémon Home's cloud transfer service launches next month
Since Pokémon Go debuted back in 2016, it hasn't been possible to keep all the creatures you collected throughout the various Pokémon titles in one place. They were split between your 3DS and phone, and the problem only got worse with the introduction of Pokémon Sword and Shield, which weren't compatible with Pokémon caught in any of the older titles. But relief is on its way next month, when The Pokémon Company finally releases Pokémon Home, a cloud service that will connect all the different games to give your precious fighting pets a single happy place to live between battles.
Some of your Pokémon won't transfer to 'Sword' and 'Shield'
Ever since 2003, you've had the option of importing your Pokémon critters into newer games, including across platforms thanks to Pokémon Home. However, GameFreak is about to end that run. As part of an E3 chat, producer Junichi Masuda revealed that Pokémon Sword and Shield will only accept transfers from creatures that exist in the game's Galar region. That includes some Pokémon from other games, of course, but it means your beloved Meloetta won't be playable. You should still have a central collection in the Home app, you just won't get to use all of it.
