Pokémon Home release date, price and what it means for Pokémon Bank on 3DS

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced their next-generation, cloud-based app Pokémon Home alongside Sword and Shield’s first DLC expansion Thursday. The service will let players manage their collection of pocket monsters across the franchises’ many titles, building upon Pokémon Bank — a paid Nintendo 3DS Pokémon transfer app — in the coming months.

Pokémon Home was first mentioned at the 2019 Pokémon Conference in Tokyo, and was widely expected to make a showing at Thursday’s Pokémon Direct. But Nintendo was short on a few crucial details.

Here’s everything we know so far about Pokémon Home.

When is the Pokémon Home release date?

The biggest news about the cloud-service app was that it will release in February 2020. Expect an announcement about a more specific release date as January comes to an end.

How much will Pokémon Home cost?

Nintendo didn’t reveal Pokémon Home’s price at the most recent Direct, even though it’s just a month away from launch. There’s a possibility that it could be free, but seeing as Pokémon Bank carries a small fee, odds are Home will follow suit.

Pokémon Bank costs $5 a year and lets players deposit, store, and manage up to 3,000 Pokémon across all of the franchises’ 3DS titles. Home will essentially increase the scope of this functionality, by letting users access it with their Nintendo Switch and smartphones.

A similar $5 annual fee seems likely.

Where can you use Pokémon Home?

The Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices will all support Pokémon Home. That will make managing your Pokémon simpler and more flexible, unlike Bank, which only runs on 3DS systems.

What games does Pokémon Home work with?

It will work with all of the games that Bank supports on the 3DS. These include, Pokémon X & Y, Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Pokémon Sun & Moon, Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon.

Pokémon Home will expand Bank’s services to Pokémon GO, Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu & Let’s Go, Eevee and Pokémon Sword & Shield.

The service will only let users transfer Pokémon into one game: Sword & Shield. So it won’t let you transfer a Weedle you caught on Pokémon GO to Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu, for example.

What will happened to Pokémon Bank accounts?

Pokémon Bank will remain operational. In fact, Pokémon Home will require the use of the older service to access Nintendo’s 3DS titles. So no need to worry about the app shutting down, it’s actually an integral piece of the Pokémon Home puzzle.

Pokémon Home launches in February.