Trainers criticize Pokemon Home price and how it will work

After months of waiting, it has finally been confirmed that Pokemon Home will release in February 2020. Further details about the Pokemon storage system have, unsurprisingly, led to mixed reactions from trainers.

Among those details was the price of the Pokemon Home app. While the basic version is free, the premium version, which offers a lot more, is a subscription-based service.

Price for premium

Longer subscriptions provide quite a substantial discount, as follows:

• 1 month (30 days): $2.99
• 3 months (90 days): $4.99
• 12 months (365 days): $15.99

There will always be contrasting opinions as to whether this pricing structure is fair. One trainer was particularly peeved with the price tag, saying: “that pricetag is absurd, I cannot for the life of me find that reasonable.”

Pokemon held hostage

Elsewhere there are concerns as to what happens when you stop subscribing to Pokemon Home. “So what if I pay a month, transfer over with bank, leave them there and my home expires, and repay another month in June?” LeafNever asked us on Twitter.

As of writing, we don’t have an official answer to this question but we can only presume they would. We will update this article when this is (or isn’t) confirmed.

Twitter user Kirihum shared the some insight after having used Pokemon Bank: “If it’s anything like bank then they’ll delete them if you stop paying, which means the Pokemon you can’t transfer to SwSh will be trapped in there and basically be held hostage unless you keep paying until they make a new game where these Pokemon MIGHT be included.”

Other trainers have drawn parallels between the concept of Pokemon Home and a hostage situation. This is because some Pokemon from games other than Sword and Shield can’t be transferred back. With Pokemon Sword and Shield not having the National Pokedex (you may have heard about that) those Pokemon remain stuck in storage until they are introduced to the Gen 8 game or a new game down the line includes them.

• Read More: Does it matter if there isn’t a new Pokemon game in 2020?

These are certainly valid concerns, which is why what happens to those Pokemon if you decide to end any subscription is so important.

Home solves a lot of problems

While some trainers are pessimistic about the long-awaited arrival of Pokemon Home, others are excited for it. There could well be flaws with it and the pricing structure will always be a topic of debate.

It does, however, solve a big problem that a lot of trainers have. With fans having played the games since the earliest days of Pokemon Red and Blue, some will have a vast collection of species that they wish to centralize. Pokemon Home does exactly that.

We asked who’s excited by the upcoming release of Pokemon Home and most trainers are looking forward to it. Gary Chandler replied saying: “I have tons of shinys on let’s go so I can’t wait to keep them 100% safe.”

Other trainers will surely be sharing this sentiment, too. Only time will tell if Pokemon Home lives up to the hype – if it does it will be staple of Pokemon gaming for many years to come.