Players got some great news on May 18 with The Pokémon Company seemingly confirming Pokémon HOME would finally become compatible with Scarlet and Violet in a May 23 update. However, following a May 19 announcement from The Pokémon Company, that release date has now been pulled and no replacement launch window has been shared yet.
This means all of the features confirmed to be coming in HOME version 3.0.0, which includes SV compatibility and a number of new options when it comes to transferring Pokémon, will no longer be released next week. In fact, it may never have been planned to release on May 23 at all.
There was no reason given for this delay, but Serebii lists the entire situation as a “miscommunication” with TPC now listing the launch date as “yet to be announced” but coming soon.
For fans of the franchise, this news is a blow as HOME compatibility with the newest Pokémon games has been one of the biggest talking points in the community, with notable spam filling popular Pokémon news posts on social media asking about details and dates for its eventual release.
“As fans and lovers of the brand, we feel disrespected,” said one disgruntled player in response to the May 19 statement. Another player speculates the delay may be a result of one of the numerous bugs with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, calling the games “unfinished.”
This out-of-the-blue date pull has left many players upset, and the fact it came just hours after TPC suspended an ongoing Scarlet and Violet Tera Raid event due to a game-crashing bug only compounds that. It also doesn’t help that Pokémon Go is facing similar, or worse, backlash from its own community too.
Related: Niantic breaks silence on HearUsNiantic movement and Pokémon Go’s Remote Raid controversy
The actual features detailed in the update, which include a new Mystery Gift and features like a Move Relearner in the app had players mostly excited for the anticipated release—though now that hype has dipped tremendously. We now have to wait for additional updates from TPC on when HOME compatibility for Scarlet and Violet will launch.