Pokémon GO has been insanely successful for Niantic and The Pokémon Company, so it makes perfect sense for Game Freak to make the popular mobile game compatible with its upcoming Switch release, Pokémon Sword and Shield.
It now appears we could be finding out about potential compatibility between the two games sooner than planned, with Pokémon GO dataminer Chrales discovering the latest update for the mobile app – Version 0.143.0 – features a string referred to as “koala_settings”, for a separate app.
According to the source, the codename “koala” might be Sword and Shield’s internal codename, which is said to match the naming convention Game Freak uses to link each game with nature or an animal. The previous release, Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! & Let’s Go, Eevee! is codenamed “beluga” (a whale) and has its own dedicated settings screen inside GO to connect the two games.
A Pokémon fan page on Twitter went into a bit more detail about previous codenames in the series:
Given the continued success of Niantic’s augmented reality mobile game, a connection with the upcoming Switch release seems quite feasible.
Are you expecting Sword and Shield to be made compatible with GO? What are your thoughts about this datamine? Tell us down below.