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Pokémon Bank App Ends Service in February 2027

The Pokémon Company International announced on Thursday that the Pokémon Bank Nintendo 3DS app on February 25, 2027, at 10:00 p.m. EST, two days before the franchise's annual Pokémon Day. Players have until that date to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to the newer cloud storage service Pokémon Home for Switch, iOS, and Android. This means that after the app's closure, Pokémon from generations 3 (Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire) to 7 (Pokémon Sun/Moon) will no longer be transferable to Pokémon Home and Nintendo Switch titles.

The company also revealed that the Nintendo Switch releases of the Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version games will get Pokémon Home compatibility in October, allowing players to transfer their Pokémon from the games to the storage service. However, players will not be able to bring Pokémon back into those games once transferred. Players who have completed the Pokémon in either of those games will receive the mythical Pokémon Celebi upon linking their games to Pokémon Home.

Pokémon is also getting an update for the paid Premium Plan, allowing players to deposit up to 9,000 Pokémon. The previous cap was 6,000. The subscription price will not change for the app.

Nintendo shut down the eShop online store for 3DS and Wii U in March 2023. As a result, players who did not already own Pokémon Bank already could no longer purchase and download the app.

Nintendo debuted the Pokémon Bank app in Japan on December 2013, but removed it from the eShop when high traffic volume began straining the company's servers and affecting its 3DS and Wii U platforms. The app relaunched in Japan in January 2014. The North American release was delayed as a result of the network and server issues. The app launched in North America and Europe in February 2014.

The Pokémon Bank cloud storage service allows players to store a total of 3,000 Pokémon in 100 storage boxes. The service is able to store Pokémon from the Pokémon Black/White, Pokémon Black 2/White 2, Pokémon X/Y, and Pokémon Sun/Moon, and Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon via the Internet. Pokémon Bank includes various search functions and enable players to transfer many Pokémon simultaneously without using two game systems. Pokémon Bank had an annual fee of US$4.99.

Historically, Pokémon could be transferred from the third generation (Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire) to the present generation through services that move and store Pokémon, including Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. The franchise's first two generations (Pokémon Red/Blue and Pokémon Gold/Silver) for Game Boy and Game Boy Color, respectively, could never transfer to future generations, with the exception of Switch Virtual Console rereleases.

Pokémon Home, a new cloud-based service for Switch, iOS, and Android devices, launched in February 2020. Pokémon Home allows players to bring over their Pokémon from Pokémon GO, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!/Eevee!, Pokémon Sword/Shield, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It will also accept Pokémon from Pokémon Bank until its end of service. Players can import their Pokémon into the battle-focused game Pokémon Champions, which debuted for Switch on April 8 and launched on iOS and Android on June 17.

The Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version games launched digitally for Nintendo Switch on February 27, the franchise's annual Pokémon Day. Both games were orignially released in January 2004 for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance handheld console. The games are respective remakes of the Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green games, which debuted for Nintendo Game Boy in February 1996.

Source: Pokémon franchise's website