Today (29th May) is a good day for Pokémon fans as a new cloud service and several new games were announced this morning during the 2019 Pokémon Press Conference.
▍Pokémon Home: Transfer Your Pokémon Across Devices
Pokémon Home is a cloud-based service, which allows players to transfer their Pokémon from every Pokemon game across platforms. The services will work with Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.
Your Pokémon collection will be transferable from Pokémon Go and Pokémon Bank to games like Let’s Go, Pikachu!, Let’s Go, Eevee!, and the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield. It also allows players to trade Pokémon with each other locally and globally. The services is expected to go live on 2020.
▍Pokémon Sleep: Play While You Sleep
The newly announced Pokémon Sleep undoubtedly catches eyes as it is hoped to do for sleeping what Pokémon Go did for walking. The app will monitor users’ sleep patterns and reward them for the time they spent sleeping.
“The concept of this game is for players to look forward to waking up every morning,” said Tsunekazu Ishihara (石原恒和), president and CEO of The Pokémon Company.
The aim is to “reward good sleep habits as part of a healthy lifestyle” and is being developed by Select Button, which previously collaborated with the company on the smartphone app Magikarp Jump. Niantic, the developers of Pokémon Go, is also assisting.
The app will utilize a newly developed device developed by Nintendo called Pokémon Go Plus+. The device works as a pedometer and game interface, and also functions as a sleep tracker via the accelerometer, communicating the data to a smartphone via bluetooth. The app is also slated for release in 2020.
Moreover, Pokémon Go also celebrates the announcement of Pokémon Sleep apps with a new sleeping Snorlax event. Pokemon GO players can catch the sleeping Snorlax for a limited time.
▍Pokémon Masters: A New Mobile Game in Partnership with DeNA
A brand-new Pokémon game was also announced. Titled as Pokémon Masters, the mobile game is developed by DeNA in partnership with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The game is set to launch in 2019 for Android and iOS.
The idea for Pokémon Masters came from game designer Ken Sugimori (杉森 建), who thought it would be fun for a Pokemon game to feature all of the past and present Pokemon Trainers from the game series. Although the gameplay is not fully revealed, but it supports 3vs3 battling system and each trainer is equipped with unique skills.
▍New Detective Pikachu Game Heads to Nintendo Switch
Also revealed was a new version of Detective Pikachu, the Nintendo 3DS game that inspired the movie, coming to the Switch. It will have a new ending, according to the developers, but the details are not yet confirmed.
▍2019 Pokémon Press Conference