The world of Pokemon is vast. Not only in the regions trainers love to visit but also in the pocket monsters they catch. The phrase “gotta catch ’em all!” may seem like a basic slogan, but it’s the driving force behind much that has gone on within the franchise over the years. But there’s an inherent problem with trying to “catch ’em all.” Once you catch them, can you keep them? If we’re talking about within the confines of the game you caught them in, then yes. You can. But if you’re talking long-term, that is difficult as the generations move on. That’s why Pokemon Home was created.

Because initially, the only way to move Pokemon from a previous generation to a newer one was through trading. But if you have a lot of Pokemon you want to keep, that’s a lot of trading to do. Through Pokemon Home, you can put all the Pokemon you want into one expanded space, so you keep your carefully raised, bred, or battled Pokemon. It’s an essential service that fans have come to rely on in recent generations.

On November 18th, the next generation of games will arrive via Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. So naturally, gamers want to know when they can expect to move their prized Pokemon in and out of the new titles and into the service. The answer to that came today from The Pokemon Company, who revealed that you’ll have to wait until next year before connections can be made:

“Compatibility between Pokémon Scarlet, Pokémon Violet, and Pokémon HOME is slated for spring 2023.”

That release window may confuse players at first but look at this from the company’s perspective. They want players to dive into the Gen 9 games with fresh eyes and a desire to catch new Pokemon and do new things. If they could connect to the storage service immediately, or even a month after release, they would quickly flood the latest games with old Pokemon that wouldn’t make the game a challenge. Plus, if we’re talking online capabilities, we know that people would use their “epic teams” that they have stored to take on all comers and likely wipe them out.

With the buffer now, fans will have to “work with what they have” and not rely on their “aces” to help do the job for them. That will keep things fair for the first six months or so, which is what you want in a competitive game like this.

Source: ComicBook.com