With all of the new information coming out about Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends: Arceus during the most recent Pokémon Presents showcase, The Pokémon Company has confirmed competitive play will continue to be hosted in Sword and Shield.
This is a similar method to how the competitive scene was run when Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! were released for Nintendo Switch in 2018.
Because those games were the only Pokémon titles available on Switch at the time and had features that differentiated them from the main series of games, specifically in the area of battling, TPC continued to host VGC and ranked events using Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon on the 3DS. This lasted until Sword and Shield launched the following year in 2019, which is when the competitive scene made the leap over to the newest generation on Switch.
No further details were shared about how the Sword and Shield meta will continue to evolve or if any additional changes will be made to the generation eight titles. We do know that Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Legends: Arceus will be receiving Pokémon Home support in 2022, but it’s unclear how that could impact Sword and Shield.
It is very likely that TPC will continue to iterate on the ranked battle modes every season, which will reflect in VGC events and other online ranked competitions.
