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role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
s developed by
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
and published by
The Pokémon Company , simply known as Pokémon is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, f ...
and
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
for the
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
console. They are the first instalments in the 8th generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. First teased at
E3 2017 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
and announced in February 2019, the games were released on 15 November 2019. The games were accompanied by a
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
(DLC) expansion pass consisting of Part 1— ''The Isle of Armor'' (released in June 2020) and Part 2—'' The Crown Tundra'' (October 2020); its launch marked the first ever DLC released as part of the ''Pokémon'' video game series instead of a improved version. In the game story, a young Pokémon Trainer begins their adventure in the Galar region along with their friend/rival Hop as they join the Gym Challenge that allows them to compete with others for the titles of Champion, due to them both getting a letter from Hop's brother and current Champion of the region Leon. The games introduced many new features including the Dynamax and Gigantamax
mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...
, which causes a player's Pokémon to grow to a significantly larger size and use more powerful attacks in battle. Conceptualization of the game began immediately following the completion of ''Pokémon Sun'' and ''Moon'' in 2016, while full development began a year later. The games were designed around the intent of utilizing the improved hardware capabilities of the Nintendo Switch. The Dynamax mechanic was similarly designed around the ability to see larger battles then were previously possible in the series. ''Pokémon'' games feature a system where Pokemon from past games are able to be transferred into newer installments; when it was announced that ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' would exclude many pre-existing Pokémon from being usable in the games, it triggered a backlash from fans who called it "Dexit" as a nod to Brexit and resulted in an extensive controversy. ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the games' gameplay, exploration, and mechanics, although the lack of innovation received some criticism. As of March 2025, the games had sold more than 26 million copies worldwide, making them the second best-selling titles in the ''Pokémon'' video game series. The games won awards at the
SXSW Gaming Awards The SXSW Gaming Awards were awards given to video games during the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas typically in March of that year. The Awards were part of the SXSW Gaming Expo which is part of the SXSW Interactive ...
and ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' ''
Dengeki , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a merger between ASCII Corporation and MediaWorks ...
'' Game Awards 2019.


Gameplay

''Pokémon Sword'' and ''Shield'' are
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
s with
adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
elements. They are presented in a fixed camera, third-person perspective, though some areas allow for free camera movement. The player controls a young Pokémon trainer who goes on a quest to catch and train creatures known as Pokémon and win battles against other Pokémon trainers. By defeating opposing Pokémon in
turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...
battles, the player's Pokémon gains
experience Experience refers to Consciousness, conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience i ...
, allowing them to level up and increase their battle statistics, learn new moves, and evolve into more powerful Pokémon. The player can capture wild Pokémon through wild encounters by weakening them in battle and catching them with Poké Balls, adding them to their
party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
. The player can also battle and trade Pokémon with other players via the
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
's connectivity features. As is with other ''Pokémon'' games, certain Pokémon are only obtainable in either ''Sword'' or ''Shield'', and the player will have to trade with others to obtain every Pokémon from both versions. Pokémon ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' are set in the Galar region, inspired by the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Galar consists of numerous cities and towns, with a route system separating major settlements.
Random encounter A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby combat encounters with non-player character (NPC) enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random, usually without the enemy being physically detected ...
s with wild Pokémon typically occur in tall grass or bodies of water along routes and they might chase or run away from the player depending on their disposition. The driving force bringing the player to travel around the Galar region is to participate in the "Gym Challenge", an open tournament to decide the region's greatest Pokémon Trainer (the Champion). Eight of the game's cities and towns are homes to stadiums housing "Gym Leaders", powerful trainers specializing in certain types of Pokémon; beating a Gym Leader will grant the player a "Gym badge". After collecting all eight Badges, the player will be allowed to participate in the "Champion Cup", where they will face off in a
tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...
against the previously faced Gym Leaders in the Gym Challenge. After they emerge victorious, the player will face the reigning Champion of the Galar Region, Leon.


New features

The games introduce temporary transformations known as Dynamax and Gigantamax. Dynamax allows Pokémon to transform into gigantic-sizes during a Pokémon battle and use special "Max Moves", more powerful attacks that have unique in-battle effects. Gigantamax, which is limited to selected Pokémon, additionally alters Pokémon's physical appearance and replaces one of their Max Move battle techniques with a G-Max Move exclusive to the selected Pokémon.Gigantamax and Dynamax lasts for three turns. Gigantamax is also only for specific pokemon. Players can battle in teams of four, either with other players or with
non-playable characters A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by an ...
, in cooperative raids against wild Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed Pokémon, who have significantly larger health bars and can summon protective barriers to limit damage dealt to them. If players succeed in defeating the Raid Boss, they are granted the opportunity to catch the Pokémon and receive rewards; if four Pokémon on the player's side are knocked out during the battle or enough turns pass in the battle, the player will lose the Raid. Players can use Dynamax during these Raid Battles, though which player can Dynamax on a given turn is rotated once per turn. The Wild Area is a fully explorable
open world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...
area with free camera movement. Pokémon will appear in the game's overworld, and which Pokémon can appear will depend on weather conditions in the Wild Area, which changes every real-world day. The Wild Area's Pokémon fluctuate wildly in terms of their in-game level, and players will be unable to catch Pokémon of a certain level until they obtain certain Gym Badges by progressing through the main story. Players can find collectable items and battle non-playable characters in the Wild Area, and can additionally interact with Raid Dens, which allow players to initiate raid battles with Dynamaxed opponents. Players can also use a new "Camp" feature, which allows players to set up camps with their Pokémon. Players can play and interact with their Pokémon in the camps, and can additionally use food items to prepare
curry Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...
. Curry can be used to increase various statistics associated with the Pokémon, such as their friendship with the player, as well as giving them experience points. Depending on the difficulty of the curry recipe and ingredients used by the player, the curry will have a different final ranking, which will affect the amount of bonuses granted to the player's Pokémon. Players can participate in online multiplayer in camps with up to four players. In multiplayer camps, players can cook curry cooperatively and play with other players' Pokémon. Other new mechanics include "Poké Jobs," which tasks the player's Pokémon with completing requests around Galar to gain experience or rare items. Regional variants, variations of Pokémon from past games in the series that have different appearances due to regional adaptation, return after being introduced in ''
Pokémon Sun and Moon and are 2016 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the seventh generation of the Pokémon (video game series), ''Pokémon ...
'', which featured regional variants exclusive to the game's main location of Alola. The games additionally have content exclusive to certain versions of the game, with certain Gym Leaders and Pokémon species being available only in ''Sword'' or ''Shield''.


Connectivity

Internet connectivity to other players is supported for functionality such as trades, battles, and encountering other trainers in the Wild Area; these functions however require a paid subscription to the
Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service operated by Nintendo for its video game consoles, the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. The service is Nintendo's third-generation online service after Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect ...
subscription service. ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' only support direct game-to-game connectivity between themselves. The games are also compatible with ''
Pokémon Home is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
'', an online
cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which data, said to be on "the cloud", is stored remotely in logical pools and is accessible to users over a network, typically the Internet. The physical storage spans multiple servers (so ...
service for storing Pokémon, released in February 2020. Supported Pokémon can be transferred to the games from the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
app '' Pokémon Bank'', ''Pokémon Go,'' and ''Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!'' and ''Let's Go, Eevee!'', ''
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and are 2021 remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS role-playing video games ''Pokémon Diamond'' and ''Pearl''. The games are part of the eighth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series and were developed by ILCA and published by Nintend ...
'', '' Pokémon Legends: Arceus'', and ''
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and are 2022 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. They are the first installments in the ninth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. They ...
'' via ''Pokémon Home''. If save data is detected on the Nintendo Switch system from ''Let's Go, Pikachu!'' or ''Let's Go, Eevee!.'' a Pikachu or Eevee that can Gigantamax will be available in ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' to the player as in-game gift.


Plot


Setting

''Sword'' and ''Shield'' are set in Galar, a fictional region inspired by the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, with several of its landmarks resembling places such as
Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...
and
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
. Within the Galar region lie countryside towns featuring cottages and
Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...
to the south. There are also
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
and
steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
references. Many of the region's towns and cities feature Pokémon Gyms stylised like football
stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
s, showcasing the games' Dynamax and Gigantamax mechanic. Snow-covered mountains dominate much of the northern areas of the region.


Story

Similar to many previous games in the ''Pokémon'' franchise, the player travels across the region to become the region's strongest Pokémon Trainer, fighting eight powerful trainers called Gym Leaders and eventually the region's Pokémon Champion, Leon. Leon is the older brother of Hop, the player's childhood best friend. The player and Hop receive one of three starter Pokémon: Grookey,
Scorbunny Scorbunny is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' media franchise, and one of the three Starter Pokémon in the games ''Pokémon Sword'' and ''Shield'', alongside Grookey and Sobble. Since Scorbunny's debut, it has app ...
, or
Sobble Sobble (), known in Japan as , is a List of Pokémon, Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' franchise. It was first introduced in Pokémon Sword and Shield, ''Pokémon Sword'' and ''Shield'' and is one of three Pokémon avail ...
from Leon as a gift. Afterward, the two explore a forest called the Slumbering Weald but are driven off by a powerful Pokémon. During their subsequent visit to the region's Pokémon Professor, Magnolia, and her granddaughter Sonia, they convince Leon to endorse the player and Hop to take part in the Gym Challenge. After travelling to the next city to register for the Gym Challenge, they encounter rivals Bede and Marnie, along with Team Yell, a devout group of hooligans who act as Marnie's unintentional fanbase and are determined to stop anyone else from completing the Challenge. The player also meets Chairman Rose, who, in addition to endorsing Bede as a Gym Challenger, presides over the Galar League and the region's main energy company, Macro Cosmos. As their quest continues, the player assists Sonia in her research on two Legendary Pokémon who saved Galar from an ancient crisis called the Darkest Day and deduces that they are the same Pokémon previously encountered in the Slumbering Weald. After beating the eight Gym Leaders, the player makes their way to Wyndon where they win the Champion's Cup, earning an opportunity to battle Leon. The next day, before the final battle between the player and Leon can commence, Chairman Rose awakens the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus in an attempt to harness its power to provide unlimited energy to Galar, purposefully triggering a second Darkest Day. The player and Hop secure the aid of the two Legendary Pokémon, Zacian and Zamazenta. The four defeat Chairman Rose and Eternatus, after which the player catches Eternatus and Rose hands himself over to the authorities. Three days later, the player faces and defeats Leon in a final battle and becomes the new Champion of the Galar Region. The game's post-game has the player and Hop confront Sordward and Shielbert, two brothers who attempt to drive Zacian and Zamazenta berserk. The player and Hop capture the two Pokémon and the brothers are arrested. Hop chooses to train to be a Pokémon Professor with Sonia.


Development


Conceptualization

Conceptualization of ''Pokémon Sword'' and ''Shield'' began immediately following the completion of ''Pokémon Sun'' and ''Moon'' in the months preceding their release in November 2016. Shigeru Ohmori, who previously directed ''Sun'' and ''Moon'', formed a team to brainstorm ideas for the title. Kazumasa Iwao, director of ''Pokémon Ultra Sun'' and ''Ultra Moon'', later joined the project as planning director. One of the first ideas the team had was making Pokémon gigantic in size to capitalize on the Switch's high resolution and TV connectivity. Ohmori suggested a sword and a shield Pokémon to defeat this gigantic Pokémon; these concepts formed the games' titles.
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
approached the games based on the theme of strength and striving to be the "greatest or the strongest"; this was expressed through the Switch's status as the most powerful console to run a ''Pokémon'' game, the Dynamax mechanic, and in-game references to various elements of
British folklore British folklore includes topics such as the region's legends, recipes, and folk beliefs. British folklore includes English folklore, Scottish folklore and Welsh folklore.See discussion in, for example, Chainey 2018: 7-9. See also *Celtic myth ...
, featuring giants and other mythical creatures. The concept of "growing and evolving" is an important theme in the games, and it was heavily emphasized in the story.


Production

Full production began in September 2017. Approximately 1,000 people from multiple companies were involved in the development, marketing, localization, and public relations. Around 200 Game Freak employees worked directly on the games, while about 100
Creatures Inc. is a Japanese video game company affiliated with Game Freak and Nintendo, and is one of the owners of the ''Pokémon'' franchise. It was founded by Tsunekazu Ishihara in November 1995, with the assistance of then-president of HAL Laboratory, Sa ...
employees worked on 3D modeling. An additional 100 worked on debugging and game testing. Game Freak assembled a small team to systematically plan and design the game, enabling them to seamlessly incorporate all desired elements; this approach replaced their previous iterative method, which became impractical due to the complexities of the game's 3D graphics. Before developing the games, Game Freak worked on ''Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!'' and ''Let's Go, Eevee!'' as a research project to study the Switch, incorporating a similar code base structure for ''Sword'' and ''Shield''. The developers explored various ways to improve and innovate the traditional random encounter mechanic, and after several experiments, they redesigned it to have the player encounter Pokémon freely roaming around the environment. Similarly, they considered allowing the player to freely control the camera to enhance the games' exploration experience, before consulting the staff members in the form of an internal debate, and it was ultimately included. With the transition to the Switch from previous iteration, Game Freak had to meticulously design Pokémon models from scratch to adapt them to the higher fidelity and more expressive graphics of the Switch when compared to the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
. The Pokémon design process involved planners and concept designers creating settings for each Pokémon, which were compiled into a text file outlining the vision for each Pokémon's placement in the game. They designed the Wild Area as a "wide-open space" that is different from the traditional route systems and is constantly changing where "it would be interesting to come back every day and see what has changed—something that would feel different each time." Go Ichinose and Minako Adachi composed the music, incorporating elements of UK rock music; a track was composed by
Toby Fox Robert F. "Toby" Fox (born October 11, 1991) is an American video game developer and composer. He is best known for developing the role-playing video game ''Undertale'', which garnered acclaim and has received nominations for a British Academy ...
, creator of ''
Undertale ''Undertale'' is a 2015 role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical b ...
''. Ohmori stated that they included fairly short loop tunes for the route music, as opposed to the longer, more dynamic songs in the Wild Area. The games are the first Pokémon games with a title theme that features lyrics.


"Cutting" Pokémon

Unlike previous core series games, many pre-existing Pokémon are not available in ''Sword'' and ''Shield'', and only Pokémon that appear in the Galar region can be transferred from previous titles via ''Pokémon Home''. Producer
Junichi Masuda is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the ''Pokémon'' franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company s ...
addressed this as a potential issue in a 2018 interview with ''GameSpot'', saying that "it does get complicated when you talk about the details and we're still figuring it out, but we do have plans to find ways to let players use their Pokémon in the next game." In 2019, he explained that the sheer number of Pokémon, combined with the need to produce assets for new features such as the Dynamaxing mechanic, and maintaining a good
game balance Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended pl ...
and high quality standard made it infeasible to include all pre-existing Pokémon without extensively lengthening development time. He stated all three companies involved in the development,
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
,
Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''Pokémon (video game series), Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self- ...
, and
The Pokémon Company , simply known as Pokémon is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, f ...
, agreed to reduce the games' amount of Pokémon.


Release and marketing

''Sword'' and ''Shield'' were first teased through a special message by The Pokémon Company president
Tsunekazu Ishihara is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and businessman who is the president and Chief executive officer of The Pokémon Company. Prior to working with the ''Pokémon'' franchise, Ishihara was part of Ape Inc. and worked on tit ...
during Nintendo's
E3 2017 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...
, where Ishihara mentioned that Game Freak was working on a new core series ''Pokémon'' role-playing game for the Nintendo Switch but that it would not be released for more than a year. During a press conference held by The Pokémon Company in Japan on 30 May 2018, Game Freak announced that the games would be released on Switch in the second half of 2019. The games were fully unveiled in a special
Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...
presentation on 27 February 2019, introducing the games' region and starter Pokémon. The presentation coincided with Pokémon Day, a fan celebration of ''Pokémon'' on the anniversary of the Japanese release of ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green''. A second Nintendo Direct about the games was held on 5 June 2019, and it further revealed the games' new features, characters, and Pokémon. A release date of 15 November 2019, was also announced as part of this presentation. Game Freak intentionally limited the number of new Pokémon they revealed through promotional materials to encourage players to discover them in-game. For the reveals of new Pokémon, several promotional stunts were used. An event in September involving the a glitched graphic on the official Pokémon website led to the reveal of the Pokémon Sirfetch'd. A 24-hour livestream released in October, set in the games' Glimwood Tangle location, led to the reveal of a regional variant for the Pokémon Ponyta. A promotional crossover between ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' and '' Tetris 99'' occurred from 8–11 November, during which a limited-time unlockable theme based on the games was available. A web app was also released, allowing the viewer to explore the Wild Area online. In ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...
'', an online tournament themed around ''Pokémon'' was held from 15 to 18 November to promote ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' release, while an event occurred from 22 to 27 November, with some Pokémon from the games being available as collectible spirits.


Leaks

Prior to the release of the games, images showcasing Pokémon featured in the games, including various unreleased designs, were leaked via a
Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...
chat, and subsequently spread over the internet. The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against the leakers, having identified four Discord accounts associated with the leaks. A further request for a
subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
was issued by The Pokémon Company against Discord and image board website
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
, requesting information on those who leaked information regarding the games. The claim was settled in 2021. The leakers were required to individually pay $150,000 USD to the Company. A Portuguese website, which also published a series of leaks prior to the games' release, was blacklisted by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
. A believed early build of the games, believed to be dated from sometime in 2018, was leaked by a hacker who breached Nintendo's servers. The build was distributed around various internet forums, such as
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
, following the release of the game. The build features numerous Pokémon cut from the final game's release, such as Greninja and Ekans, a form of the Pokémon Rayquaza, and several other Pokémon. Various visual aspects were unfinished, as were several models for the scrapped Pokémon. The game's Wild Area was also incomplete, and various music tracks had different variations to the final release. When asked about the build,
The Pokémon Company , simply known as Pokémon is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, f ...
said it would "not comment on leaks and speculation," though the build was widely believed to be an actual early build of the games by many.


Expansion pass

During the '' Pokémon Direct'' on 9 January 2020, an expansion pass was announced consisting of two parts, '' The Isle of Armor'', and '' The Crown Tundra,'' and they were released on 17 June 2020 and 22 October 2020, respectively. The expansion pass added additional storylines, locations, characters, new and returning Pokémon species, and other features not present in the base game. A physical bundle, which included both expansions as well as the base game, was released on 6 November 2020.


Reception


Critical response

Reception of the games was largely positive. According to the
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' received "generally favourable" reviews from critics based on 94 critic reviews. Critics praised ''Sword'' and ''Shield's'' gameplay, exploration, and mechanics. ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
'' critic Brian Shea praised the games for their captivating battle mechanics and sense of exploration. Similarly, Casey DeFreitas of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' praised their engaging gameplay, complemented by compelling battle and exploration experiences. Writing for ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'', Kallie Plagge praised the dynamic exploration aspect and streamlined gameplay. Just Lunning, writing for ''Inverse'', similarly responded positively to the games. They stated that despite the cuts to the amount of Pokémon featured in the games, the games had improved various quality of life aspects, allowing for the games to be more accessible to new players. Lowell Bell, writing for '' The Escapist,'' praised the games' gameplay, but felt the games lacked difficulty. They additionally criticised the games' story, believing Chairman Rose's plot to be illogical and that several story beats were not given enough weight. Alex Olney of ''
Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
'' enjoyed the game and praised various new aspects of the game, such as the new Pokémon, quality of life improvements, and the Wild Area. Despite this, he felt that the game did not take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch's more advanced hardware, and found various visual aspects underwhelming. Alex Donaldson, writing for ''
VG247 Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
'', responded positively to the game, finding it charming and believing the game to successfully encapsulate various aspects of the series. He criticised various incomplete or mediocre aspects of the game, believing that they prevented the game from reaching its full potential. Some critics felt that ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' lacked in depth and innovation. In their review for ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'', Chris Tapsell criticised the games for their lack of depth, absence of complex dungeons and intricate lore, limited exploration option, and a restricted Pokédex, creating an illusion of scale and ambition that ultimately fails to provide a satisfying Pokémon experience of depth and substance that characterized previous iterations. In their '' GQ'' review, James Grebey and Tom Philip criticised their lack of challenge, depth, and innovation, expressing disappointment in the games' execution and their failure to fully utilize the capabilities of the Switch. Mack Ashworth of ''
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'' cited the subpar visuals and mediocre story execution, and he compared the games' underperformed, inferior visuals to other top Switch games.


Controversy

The decision to exclude many pre-existing Pokémon in the games drew criticism from many fans, who referred to it as "Dexit", a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of "Pokédex" and "
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
" (tying in with the Galar region's British theme), and used the
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
"#BringBackNationalDex" to discuss the matter on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
. Fan backlash focused on the removal of a long-standing aspect of the franchise, the discouraging of its former English tagline "gotta catch 'em all," and a perceived lack of improvements in other areas of the games, such as graphics and animations. Some fans called for the games to be delayed until all of the Pokémon could be added. Writing for ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'', Patricia Hernandez commented that "to some degree, the backlash makes sense" while adding that it had "gotten out of hand". Alex Donaldson of ''
VG247 Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
'' noted that
feature creep Feature creep is the excessive ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, especially in computer software, video games (where it should not be confused with power creep) and consumer and business electronics. These extra feature ...
—where an increase in new features over time may lead to removal of previous ones—had finally reached ''Pokémon'', and long-overlooked design shortcomings of Game Freak were brought to the forefront as a result. ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' Gita Jackson summarized the backlash as "the tension of a desire to indulge in nostalgia against a desire to experience more complexity." Joe Merrick, the webmaster of fansite ''Serebii'', considered the controversy to have caused the most unrest among ''Pokémon'' fans since the troubled launch of ''Pokémon Bank'' in 2013. Masuda formally responded to the criticism on 28 June 2019, two weeks after it erupted, expressing appreciation for the love and passion shown by fans. He reiterated that the removal of certain Pokémon was a difficult decision to make and that they would be available in different games in the future. Michael McWhertor of ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'' noted that while Masuda's statement acknowledged the fans' discontent, it "did not amount to much". After the game's release, fans strongly criticized the games for their graphics, story, and characters. Further criticism came from
data miners Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and s ...
accusing Game Freak of reusing the same models and animations from the 3DS games, resulting in the games being
review bomb A review bomb is a malicious Internet phenomenon in which a large number of people or Sock puppet account, a few people with multiple accounts post negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales or popularity of a product, a service, ...
ed on Metacritic and the hashtag #GameFreakLied trending on Twitter. Game Freak denied this, stating that these elements were in fact redesigned. The announcement of the ''Isle of Armor'' and ''Crown Tundra'' expansion packs drew further outrage, with some fans believing that the packs should have been free or part of the base game due to "Game Freak's actions".


Sales

In Japan, ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' sold two million copies during their first three days on sale, 1.36 million retail copies alone, surpassing ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...
'' as the fastest-selling Switch games in that region. In the US, they sold more than two million copies in their opening weekend. During its opening weekend, ''Sword'' and ''Shield'' had sold more than six million copies worldwide, surpassing ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' as the fastest-selling Switch games. As of June 2024, the games had sold million copies worldwide, becoming the second best-selling titles in the ''Pokémon'' video game series, behind ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue''.


Awards


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pokemon Sword and Shield 2019 video games Game Freak games Japanese role-playing video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Nintendo Switch-only games Sword and Shield Role-playing video games Video game sequels Video games scored by Toby Fox Video games set in the United Kingdom Video games about size change Video game controversies Video games developed in Japan Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games scored by Go Ichinose Video games with customizable avatars Creatures (company) games