Sword and Shield will be the first new, mainline Pokémon games not to support every single Pokémon species.
Not only will you not be able to catch ’em all in Sword and Shield, you also will not be able to transfer Pokémon outside of the games’ regional Pokédex.
Sword and Shield will push the series’ overall Pokémon count over 1000, developer GameFreak has said, and this marks a tipping point where catching them all may simply never be possible again.
“The total number of Pokémon has exceeded 1000, including new Pokemon and the various forms of existing Pokémon. As a result, it has become extremely difficult to make Pokemon with a new personality play an active part and to balance their compatibility,” Game Freak produer Junichi Masuda told Famitsu.