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Pokemon Bank to move to free service once 3DS & Wii U eShops shut down

Not to be confused with the newer Pokemon Home, Pokemon Bank has been a paid service for storing Pokemon throughout the 3DS games.

TJ Denzer

February 16, 2022 10:45 AM

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With Nintendo making the sudden move to shut off eShops for both the 3DS and Wii U platforms in 2023, there are a lot of unanswered questions for what happens to that content and all of those games served up on Nintendo’s shop platforms, prominently of which is the fate of the Pokemon Bank. Having served as a hub for players on 3DS to store and retrieve their collected Pokemon across various games, The Pokemon Company addressed what would happen to it after the 3DS and Wii U eShop closures. It will become a free service for an undetermined time afterwards.

This announcement was made directly by The Pokemon Company in a press release soon after Nintendo revealed it would be shutting down 3DS and Wii U eShops in 2023. While Pokemon Home has been the cloud service application for Pokemon storage on Nintendo Switch and mobile devices and their games, Pokemon Bank still operated for those playing the 3DS games, including Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, and could be used to send Pokemon from those games to Pokemon Home.

The Pokemon Company has announced that Pokemon Bank will operate like normal until March 2023 when the 3DS and Wii U eShops are expected to close. After that, Pokemon Bank will become a free service. However, new downloads of Pokemon Bank and the accompanying Pokemover service will also end, meaning it will likely no longer be usable with Pokemon Home at that point. Just as well, The Pokemon Company has added that it will not be refunding purchased vouchers and services for Pokemon Bank. It is also mentioned in the fine print that the company is currently undecided on how long it will offer free service for Pokemon Bank, but a date of full closure could be announced later.

It seems Pokemon Bank’s future after the 3DS eShop shutdown is tentatively safe, but running on borrowed time. As we await further details, stay tuned here at Shacknews for Pokemon Bank updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.