BDSP and Legends Arceus Removed From Pokémon HOME Website

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...And it's... publicly unannounced that it's gone? What about the features?

What with The Pokémon Company International obsessing over the fact that with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Scarlet's release, there are now 1,008 Pokémon (which, they note, is over 1,000—and they are particularly enthusiastic to talk about how Gholdengo, the evolution of Gimmighoul, is the 1,000th Pokémon in the National Dex), you may wonder if you're able to get all of those Pokémon in one game. The answer is you cannot, at least not at this time.

I have not.

However, you are able to catch every Pokémon across multiple games. If you don't try to connect them, it's fine. But if you do want to do that... you're going to run into issues. Still, The Pokémon Company has recognised the importance of being able to have continuity in your Pokémon journeys, and so they invented Pokémon HOME. With Pokémon HOME (combined with the previous generation's Pokémon Bank), you'll be able to keep transferring Pokémon from every generation up to this point and keep them housed and able to be moved to HOME and then from HOME into the latest mainline titles (if they're coded into the game). But at least HOME can be that central place.

This makes information about Pokémon HOME highly anticipated and also very sensitive among the Pokémon fanbase, which is why KoopaTV is concerned that the very marketed Pokémon HOME compatibility with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, and Pokémon Shining Pearl has been completely hidden from the official Pokémon HOME website. That means the Pokémon HOME website no longer contains a “Shinning Pearl” typo... because you won't find anything referencing a Sinnoh-region (Hisui included) title on that site anymore.

To be clear, and I confirmed this with a friend, transferring Pokémon to and from Pokémon Shining Pearl and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond (and Legends: Arceus) still work! They just decided to stop advertising this. And let me show you what I mean.

BEFORE archive link.
NOW archive link.

I'm not sure when it was removed, but I think it began in... November 2022? Perhaps it had something to do with the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet (which are currently incompatible with Pokémon HOME, but that is subject to change in the future.) But it's still the case that it's gone right now.

BEFORE archive link.
NOW archive link.
At least it no longer says “Shinning” Pearl.

It's not just two table rows that are gone from the More Features tab. They removed whole sections about Other Games’ Pokédexes and challenges and stickers relating to the Sinnoh games, like the section about getting a sticker featuring both Lilligant and Hisuian Lilligant.

To try to get to the bottom of this, I submitted (another) help ticket to The Pokémon Company International:

The Pokémon HOME website used to mention Pokémon Shining Pearl, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus on the Move and More Features pages back in October 2022 and before, but afterwards, all mentions of those three games have been removed from the site, including the graphic on the Move page. What happened to the references? Are those Nintendo Switch titles no longer supported for Pokémon HOME, or is there another reason they are no longer mentioned on the website?

I very quickly got this odd response:

Hello Ludwig,

  Thank you for contacting Pokémon Support! We are unable to provide information for anything that has not been publicly announced.

In general, it's a good idea to keep an eye on the Pokémon website for most announcements.

For App availability, we recommend keeping an eye on the app store for your device for future updates.

For in-app updates, we recommend keeping an eye on the app as most will have announcements in the app itself regarding any updates.

Thank you for playing Pokémon!

Sincerely,
Agent_Pearl
The Pokémon Company International Support Team

What does she mean by... unable to provide information for anything that has not been publicly announced? The correct answer is that those three games are still supported for Pokémon HOME. ...As for them being removed and why, that's still an unknown thing, but to say it hasn't been publicly announced is silly. We can plainly see, in public, at this very moment, that those pages have been scrubbed of any reference to those three games even though they used to be there. Or... is suggesting that those Sinnoh games might lose their Pokémon HOME privileges something that will happen, but hasn't been publicly announced, so they won't provide information?

I'd recommend going to your Sinnoh or Hisuian games and getting those Pokémon into HOME sooner rather than later, just as a precautionary measure. This could be a non-story. Between the unfixed Shinning Pearl typo and now just removing all references to the Sinnoh region altogether, perhaps this is nothing more than a power-crazed rogue webmaster with a grudge against Mt. Coronet. But given the ample time that TPCi has had to fix things, I'd say it's quite reasonable to believe that something sinister is going on, and you ought to take consideration of that.


What do YOU, KoopaTV comments section, make of TPCi's history of anti-Sinnoh behaviour as it relates to Pokémon HOME's website? Are you concerned? Let KoopaTV know, and this site will continue to keep a Keen Eye on things.


This was the shocking thing that Ludwig referenced in the GOTY 2022 Best Interview award section.
Pokémon HOME can now connect with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, though TPCi failed to update the Pokémon HOME website with this information when the update was available.