Before Crown Tundra's Release, Pokemon Home Is Going Down For Maintenance [Update]

Pokemon Sword and Shield's Crown Tundra DLC is almost here. The expansion is slated to release later today, October 22. While The Pokemon Company hasn't yet confirmed what time the DLC will go live, it did announce that the Pokemon Home service will temporarily be down for maintenance today as it receives its own corresponding update. [Update: Maintenance has now ended, and both the Crown Tundra DLC and Pokemon Home's 1.3.0 update are now live.]

According to an in-app notification, the maintenance period will begin on October 22 at 11 PM UTC (4 PM PT / 7 PM ET) and is expected to run until 4 AM UTC on October 23 (9 PM PT on October 22). The service will be inaccessible on both Switch and mobile during the entire maintenance period.

The Pokemon Company hasn't shared any further details on what changes the Pokemon Home update will bring, but it is presumably making the storage service compatible with the new monsters coming in the Crown Tundra expansion. The notification notes that players will be required to update the app to version 1.3.0 to continue using it after maintenance concludes.

The Crown Tundra is the second part of Sword and Shield's Expansion Pass, following The Isle of Armor DLC that released back in June. This expansion takes players to yet another new section of Galar: the eponymous Crown Tundra, an arctic expanse that's home to many familiar and new Pokemon, such as Galarian Slowking. The update also introduces a new cooperative mode called Dynamax Adventures, as well as a helpful new item called the Ability Patch, which makes it easier to get a Pokemon's Hidden Ability.

To celebrate The Crown Tundra's release, The Pokemon Company is currently giving away eight free Pikachu to all Sword and Shield players. These special Pokemon can be claimed via Mystery Gift passwords, and each comes wearing one of the hats Ash Ketchum donned throughout the Pokemon anime.