Pokemon Home Is Bringing Back A Popular Trading Feature

The Pokemon Company has revealed more information about Pokemon Home, the cloud storage service for Nintendo Switch and mobile that's scheduled to arrive February 2020. Among the new details are several trading features for the mobile version of Pokemon Home, including a feature players have missed in Pokemon Sword and Shield: the GTS.

The Global Trade System, or GTS, allows for more specific trades than any of the trading features currently available in Sword and Shield. Players deposit Pokemon into the GTS and can note exactly which Pokemon they'd like in return, including the Pokemon's level and gender. According to the official Pokemon Home website, you'll then "be matched with a Trainer whose requests meet your criteria"--though it also shows a "Search for Pokemon" function, meaning you can likely seek out potential trades yourself as in past generations of Pokemon games.

You can also request Pokemon you haven't yet registered in Pokemon Home's National Dex, so you can get to trading for the exact Pokemon you want right away. You can increase the number of Pokemon you can trade at once with the Premium version of Pokemon Home; those with the free version can have one Pokemon up for trade at a time, while Premium subscribers can deposit three at a time.

In past Pokemon games, the GTS was useful for those looking to complete the Pokedex as well as players hoping to get Pokemon with good stats. The GTS was first introduced in Gen 4 and is notably absent from Sword and Shield, which have the much more limited Link Trade and random Surprise Trade only.

Pokemon Home is set to launch in February 2020. There are free and paid subscription options, but players hoping to transfer Pokemon from previous Pokemon games to Home can get a free month of Pokemon Bank to facilitate the process.