Update: Pokémon Home connectivity for Scarlet and Violet delayed

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet connectivity with Pokémon Home has been delayed, with the original announcement being retracted earlier today. The confusion surrounding the release of Pokémon Home connectivity for Scarlet & Violet seems set to continue as an official announcement earlier today retracted the information provided about connectivity beginning on May 24th. No alternative release date has been provided so far, which has proven to be a frustrating concern for fans of the franchise.

This mix-up in terms of connectivity with the generation 9 games comes after much speculation surrounding the ambiguity of Pokémon’s initial statement that connectivity with Home would launch in “early 2023”. The silver lining in this turn of events is that players at least got to see what they can expect from the update once it does eventually launch.

Once connectivity between Home and the generation 9 games goes live, players will be able to move Pokémon between their games and the online cloud service freely. What’s more, Pokémon that appear in the previous generation games ( Sword & Shield, BDSP, Let’s Go Pikachu & Eeeve, Legends Arceus) will be able to be imported from Scarlet & Violet so as long as they are coded into those games.

On the flip side, there is an extensive list of Pokémon that will be transferrable into Scarlet & Violet as of the update’s release. The list includes mythicals and legendaries from past games, many of the starters we’ve already seen in tera raid battles, and, most interestingly, regional forms of Pokémon found in Pokémon Legends Arceus. When moved into Scarlet & Violet, the tera type of any given pokémon will be determined by their original typing spread, so for example, a Croagunk brought in from BDSP via Home will either have a poison or fighting tera-type.

The new update also brings into focus a new feature referred to as a “move tailor” which will allow players to curate any given Pokémon’s moves before transferring it to their game of choice. An important distinction to make is that moves that do not exist in any specific game will not transfer over if learned via the move tailor in Home. This will surely be a boon for players in the competitive scene, as it will be much easier to create very specific move sets that perhaps would have otherwise taken more time and effort to create.

Players should also expect to receive a mystery gift upon connecting Scarlet & Violet to Home for the first time. Players will receive a Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly with their hidden abilities. The account must also be linked to the mobile app for the gifts to be received.

The hope would be that Pokémon will provide a date for launch soon. Connectivity for previous games such as Pokémon Legends Arceus and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl took a comparatively similar time to launch, with the games gaining the ability to move Pokémon back and forth between the cloud-based system last May. Perhaps there are still a few issues for Game Freak to iron out before the launch is made official, so it might be to the player base’s benefit for them to fix any major issues before players have access to the service.