Pokémon Bank is Shutting Down

This was the argument back when Pokémon Bank was first released. There was no reason that Pokémon could not be stored and transfered locally using the 3DSs internal memory, which previous consoles lacked. They could even have repeated the gen 4 to gen 5 process with multiple DSs.

But like every decision that negatively affects Pokémon fans from Gamefreak, the defenders came out to deflect criticism.

"You get a free period to transfer your Pokémon."

"This is way better and more convenient."

"What, you don't have $5?"

And of course, the question of what happens when the servers go down was met with dismissal. "Pokémon Bank is their forever storage app. It'll always be up to transfer Pokémon in the future. That's the point."

And then the "forever app" was replaced in the very next console generation.

Again, the question of what happens when the servers go down was raised, and again it was met with dismissal.

"That'll never happen."

Well, never is coming February 2027, apparently.

And yet again the defenders are out in force. "Why haven't you transfered all your Pokémon yet?" "Who cares about old games?" "No one uses it anyway."

If Gamefreak really wanted to, they could create some Switch app that connected locally to the 3DS games and allow transfers to Home. It could potentially work with the DS games too.

But they don't want to. I think the cutoff date makes their motives entirely clear. I think they are going to announce ports of the older games, now cut off from transfer, on Pokémon Day. RSE will likely follow FRLG and shadow drop on or around the Direct.

If they are going to port the DS and 3DS games, I suspect they will announce their plans for that too, in order to reassure everyone that they haven't lost access to their games; they just need to buy them again. How generous.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Gamefreak now consider BDSP the definitive gen 4 versions and will treat that as the replacement for the lost access to gen 4. I suspect some BDSP-style remake of gen 5 is coming, perhaps even to be announced that Pokémon Day.

XY and SM are already 3D, so they will likely get something more like a remaster, upscaling them for HD and moving the menus to the one screen. But that is probably years in the future.

In short, this was always the looming problem with online services. It is happening to Bank, it will happen to Home, and their solution will always be to sell you new subscription services and new versions of the games you already own.

And certain Pokémon fans will always defend it and ridicule you for pointing out the issues.