Pokémon VGC To Stay In Sword & Shield

Many series are still to come in Generation 8.

While we play through our first non-Dynamax format in competitive Pokémon, the future of competition has been revealed! COO of the Pokémon Company, Takato Utsunomiya, stated:

“As for the ranked battles that so many of you continue to enjoy, these will take place as before in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. We hope you all have fun participating in even more competitive play in the future.”

So what does this mean for the competitive scene as a whole? Let’s start with the certain. All of the Generation 1 through Generation 8 Pokémon we currently have in Sword and Shield aren’t going anywhere. There will be no backtrack to the 4th Generation, nor will stats and Pokémon themselves be changing in the way of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Now, let’s move on to all of the possibilities. Speaking of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it has been announced that there will be new forms of Pokémon like Hisuan Growlithe and Hisuan Braviary as well as completely new Pokémon, such as Wyrdeer and Basculegion.

Format questions

Along with new Pokémon, there will also be new formats. Currently, we are in the first non-Dynamax format for Sword and Shield. Many are thrilled about this, while some players are actually missing the Generation 8 mechanic. It is very possible the competitive format creators will try to bring Dynamax back into a few formats in the future, being that we probably have a couple of years left with this Generation. We’ve seen Dynamax with no restricted Pokémon, Dynamax with restricted Pokémon, and now no Dynamax with restricted Pokémon.

The Pokémon Company has shown that they are willing to shake up the formats to keep things fresh. If we continue to see big changes like that in the future, it will keep many people engaged and entertained.