Pokemon Bank Shutting Down in 2027, Making It Impossible to Import Pokemon From Older Generations

One of the best aspects of the Pokemon series is that Pokemon that players have caught from the Game Boy Advance era onward have been able to still seamlessly make the jump to modern titles on Switch and Switch 2. While there are plenty of hoops to jump through along the way, The Pokemon Company has continued to make it possible to transfer Pokemon from various platforms all the way up to Pokemon Home, which is its current hub used for storing Pokemon in the Switch era. Sadly, this won’t be the case much longer, as Pokemon Bank, an integral app used as part of this transfer procedure, will soon be closing down.

In a new post on its official website today, The Pokemon Company announced that it will be shutting down Pokemon Bank on Nintendo 3DS platforms early next year. Specifically, the app will have its services conclude on February 25, 2027. At this time, any Pokemon that might reside within Pokemon Box will no longer be able to transfer to Pokemon Home, which will keep them stranded in this generation.

Back in 2023, the Nintendo 3DS eShop shut down, which made it impossible for Pokemon Bank to be downloaded by anyone who hadn’t already done so previously. Despite Nintendo shuttering its digital storefront, The Pokemon Company has kept Pokemon Bank alive so that anyone who is still playing games on the platform can import them to Home. To now kill off its support for Home ends decades of support that The Pokemon Company has implemented across its various games to allow Pokemon to move from one generation to the next.

While this is a hugely disappointing move for The Pokemon Company to make, it’s one that doesn’t necessarily come as a shock. Given that support for the Nintendo 3DS as a whole has been concluded for quite some time, it always seemed like a foregone conclusion that The Pokemon Company would eventually pull the plug on Pokemon Bank. Still, its decision to do so has major ramifications for the history of the franchise, as it ends one of the core pillars of the series.

Moving forward, Pokemon Winds and Waves are set to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027 and will bring about the 10th generation of Pokemon. While details on Winds and Waves are still sparse, there’s a chance that these new Pokemon titles will be much more extensive than normal and will contain many of the Pokemon seen across the GBA, DS, and 3DS entries. If true, this would make The Pokemon Company’s choice to end Pokemon Bank a bit more reasonable, as Pokemon from these games would still be catchable in Winds and Waves.

Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 and Pro Controller Potentially Leaked With First Images