Pokemon Home: Everything You Need to Know to Transfer Pokemon to Sword & Shield

pokemon home

One of the big attractions of the Pokemon games is the ability to catch ’em all by trading your favorite ‘mon from older games to the latest entry. With the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield, fans would have eagerly planned out what Pokemon they’re going to bring over. Problem is, the eighth generation of Pokemon titles also introduces a new transfer system in the form of Pokemon Home.

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Pokemon Home Explained

To put it simply — though we’ll dive in a bit deeper shortly — Pokemon Home is a cloud-based ‘Box’ for you to store all of your Pokemon. Players can use it to connect and transfer Pokemon from their 3DS, mobile, and Switch games to one another, as well as trade with other trainers locally and online.

How Will Pokemon Home Work Differently to Pokemon Bank?

Honestly, not a whole lot. While Pokemon Bank simply gives players a means of transferring their favorite Pokemon between 3DS titles, Pokemon Home expands that list of games to the mobile-based GO, as well as Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee on Switch, and the latest entries in the series Sword and Shield.

You can also move your ‘mon currently stored in Pokemon Bank and move them over to Pokemon Home, too.

Outside of that, it’s very much business as usual. You’ll transfer Pokemon in, they’ll stay there safe and sound, and you can transfer them over to Sword and Shield as and when you like.

pokemon home explained

That being said, you’ll only be able to transfer Pokemon currently in Pokemon Home to Sword or Shield, but at least all your favorite ‘mon will be stored safely in the cloud.

What Games Are Compatible with Pokemon Home?

  • Pokemon Sword and Shield
  • Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu
  • Pokemon Go
  • Pokemon Bank
  • Pokemon Black and White
  • Pokemon Black 2 and White 2
  • Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow (3DS Versions)
  • Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal (3DS Versions)
  • Pokemon X and Y
  • Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby
  • Pokemon Sun and Moon
  • Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

How Much Will Pokemon Home Cost?

Right now, there’s no official word on how much Pokemon Home will cost. Pokemon Bank — the service it’s superseding — currently costs $4.99/ £4.49 per year, so chances are we might see a similar price point for Pokemon Home.

The alternative is that Nintendo will throw in a subscription to Pokemon Home as part of its Nintendo Switch Online subscription, especially considering how lackluster it feels to its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts.

Is Pokemon Home Available Right Now?

Update 01/09/2020: In today’s Pokemon Direct, it was revealed that Pokemon Home will be coming in February 2020. A narrower release window or release date was not yet provided.

Unfortunately not. The service is currently slated to release sometime in early 2020, but Nintendo and Game Freak haven’t provided a narrower release window. For now, it’s simply a case of waiting for further information, but we’ll update this post as soon as we hear any more.

For more on Pokemon Sword and Shield, head over to our ever-expanding guide wiki. You can also check out more of our guides below.


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Author
Chris Jecks
Chris Jecks has been covering the games industry for over eight years. He typically covers new releases, FIFA, Fortnite, any good shooters, and loves nothing more than a good Pro Clubs session with the lads. Chris has a History degree from the University of Central Lancashire. He spends his days eagerly awaiting the release of BioShock 4.