Pokémon Sword And Shield Rumored To Have Connectivity With Pokémon Go

There was recent data mine going around last weekend which suggested that Nintendo’s upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield may possibly be connected to their hit mobile game, Pokémon Go. The data mine came from popular dataminer Chrales, and it was shortly discovered after he posted a summary of his findings on Twitter regarding a recent update for Poké​mon Go.

The majority of the data mined information regards updates to Poké​mon Go, such as new quest conditions, lure items, new evolution conditions for Eevee and Tyrogue, and of course some new Go Fest badges. However, there’s some lines that don’t really make sense put under ‘other text found’; one is for a possible new encounter with a Sleeping Snorlax on the map, and one that just says ‘koala_settings’

To those who are unaware, Game Freak has given animal code names before to their Poké​mon Games, and that may be the case with “koala.” For reference, Poké​mon: Let’s Go was known as “beluga” in its lines of code, and its connectivity was proven with lines of code found in Poké​mon Go referencing connectivity to “beluga.” It would therefore make sense if this codenamed “koala” pertains to the upcoming Poké​mon Sword and Shield, which releases later this year.

This is certainly not surprising, as Poké​mon Let’s Go made great use of its connectivity with Poké​mon Go, even though the former was primarily developed for the Switch while in docked mode. We may see greater and better connectivity between the mobile and Switch platforms for Nintendo once Poké​mon Sword and Shield finally releases, as Nintendo themselves have confirmed that the title is being developed with handheld primarily in mind. You can transfer Poké​mon you have found in Poké​mon Go to Poké​mon Let’s Go, meaning that we may see a very similar feature in Poké​mon Sword and Shield.

Nintendo has been quiet for a time now on its newest Poké​mon title, although that may soon change, as the company has recently revealed its plans for E3 2019, along with the confirmed game releases to come this year.

Poké​mon Sword and Shield is set for release some time later this year, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.