With Scarlet & Violet on the horizon, Sword & Shield’s day in the sun is over.
Despite just releasing almost three years ago, The Pokemon Company is already looking to wind down some of Pokemon Sword & Shield‘s online features.
Serebii.net reports that Sword & Shield’s Wild Area News will receive one final update on November 1. This will add Pokemon not normally found in the wild, such as Gigantamax Snorlax. After that, Sword & Shield’s Wild Area will remain static forevermore.
Battle Stadium is also being updated as of November 1 to no longer update ranked seasons. The results for Ranked Battle Season will cease updating in Pokemon Home, and there will be no more online competitions. Friendly Competitions can still be initiated by the player, but they won’t be displayed in Pokemon Home from December 1 onward.
The good news is that all Y-Comm features and other online features will continue as normal, such as trading, battling, and Mystery Gifts.
Just three years for a game to retain its full functionality isn’t the shortest time horizon for a live-service game, but it’s certainly short. Lapsed Pokemon fans that come to Sword & Shield late won’t experience the game at its fullest when it received frequent updates. It remains to be seen whether Nintendo might lower the price to reflect Sword & Shield’s reduced features.
As Pokemon Sword & Shield winds down, Scarlet & Violet is winding up with a new Pokemon revealed earlier today. Bellibolt is a giant electric frog that can generate lighting by expanding and contracting its bulbous body. It also has a new ability that increases its next Electric-type attack after receiving damage. We’re not sure what other moves it might learn just yet, but fans seem to be quite taken with this dumpy new Pokemon.
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