Fans are worried that the Pokemon Bank will shut down when Nintendo pulls the Nintendo 3DS servers offline in April 2024. Players already lost the ability to (legitimately) download the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter apps in March 2023, and now things are looking dire for those who still have access to the service. Nintendo stated that there was no scheduled end to service for the apps, but the writing is obviously on the wall.
Will the Pokemon Bank go offline when 3DS servers are shut down?
Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter will still be available when the 3DS servers go offline in April 2024. Nintendo has taken pains to specify that both of these apps are exempt from the shutdown, stating:
“It will still be possible to use online services for the following software but that may also end at some point in the future”
Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software
This is confirmed elsewhere as well:
“There is no end date planned for this Pokémon Bank no-cost service.”
Pokémon Bank Service Update
So, for now, we don’t have to worry too much about losing access to the Pokemon Bank. However, suppose you’re thinking about playing through the older games and intend to bring your Pokemon into Pokemon Home. In that case, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. You can’t count on Nintendo giving you much warning before they ax the ability to do so.
It’s unfortunate that continued support for the Pokemon Bank is even in question. The service can’t cost that much to maintain, and it provides such a unique feature. If it goes down, we’ll be limited to connectivity between the Switch games and Pokemon Home and leave our Pokepals stranded on older platforms. Hopefully, Nintendo will quietly forget to take the servers offline so Pokemon fans can continue utilizing this mechanic indefinitely.
