Pokémon Bank going free for a month to allow Home transfers

With Pokémon Home’s Premium plan, Pokémon enthusiasts will be able to transfer 6,000 creatures to the cloud-based storage system. Players will be able to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Sword and Shield, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, and Pokémon Bank. (Later, players will be able to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Go.)

If you’re a player whose been collecting creatures for years throughout the games but has let your Bank subscription lapse — or never had a Bank subscription — you’re in luck. The Pokémon Company is giving players Pokémon Bank for free for a month to get all their Pokémon into the new system — but it’s a one-way ticket.

“To commemorate the release of Pokémon Home, we will make Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter available at no cost for a one-month period after Pokémon Home is released,” The Pokémon Company wrote on its website. “You’ll be able to bring Pokémon from various Pokémon series games using Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. Once you’ve got your Pokémon in Pokémon Bank, you’ll then be able to move them to Pokémon Home.”

Once Pokémon are in Pokémon Home, they can be transferred only to Sword and Shield, as long as they’re part of the Galar Pokédex.

Pokémon Bank was launched in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. The paid service costs $4.99 a year to keep up to 3,000 Pokémon, and is compatible with Pokémon Sun and Moon, Pokémon X and Y, and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. An add-on, Poké Transporter, lets players transfer from early core game series on the Virtual Console.

There is no exact release date yet for Pokémon Home, just that it’s coming in February.