Would it still be worth getting SV for playing online this late?

Rei13

Rei13

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I want to start playing more online battles, and while sure, there is Showdown, I would also like to do some work for my team (and the battles would also look better in an official game). I have played this game already, but, admittedly,
on emulator
but obviously that doesn't help for online battling. The earliest I'd be able to get it would be late this year, something like November or December.

But I'm not sure whether it's worth it anymore. By that point, Gen 9 will be 3 years old, and while Legends Z-A will not replace SV for online, surely we're not suuuper far off from Gen 10. Would there still be any activity on SV multiplayer post-Gen 10 release? What's the precedent been like for past generations? Especially cause I would have to beat the game first and make a team before I can even just get started.

The more optimal play would be to wait and get Gen 10 whenever that comes out, so that I'm there from the beginning. But I don't have a Switch 2, nor do I think I'll be getting it, at least not anytime soon. And I'm sure Gen 10 will not release on the Switch 1 as well.

What would you do?
 
unfortunately SV is currently winding down. the current competitive format on the in-game online ladder is a format that allows mythicals to be used, which is what sword and shield did in the last month of their ranked seasons before permanently suspending active competitive support. you can technically still seek ranked matches in SWSH, but the ladder is pretty much devoid of activity and is in a permanent stasis. the format never changes and you can never drop in rank again, etc. typical competitive pokemon battling is going to be moving to Champions next year and the current mythical format, regulation J, is ending in january, which is when i would expect SV's ranked ladder to also enter stasis like SWSH's.

as for other online play, i would also expect the live service aspect of outbreak, raid, and mystery gift events to end around this time. we just got all of the main shiny locked paldean legendaries, which tends to happen at the very end of a pokemon game's lifespan. SWSH's "wild area news" (their raid events) is also in permanent stasis, leaving some g-max forms on their servers. i would expect the same to happen to SV, with some sort of event being left on forever. mystery gifts and live service support should be moving to Z-A, which is confirmed to have a ranked ladder for its own battle system unlike PLA, and a mystery gifts menu too.

unfortunately if you want to get into official competitive pokemon battling, i would wait for champions (which is also going to be a mobile app so no switch 2 necessary!) and bide your time with showdown until then. unless you have an itch to casually trade and battle pokemon with friends, or do stuff like the DLC's blueberry quests together, SV really should be winding down throughout the end of this year.
 
That's what I thought, but figured I might as well get the opinion of someone who has the game already. Thanks!

I suppose Champions might be what I go for then (once that releases).
 
I mean, better the bearer of bad news than the bearer of fake news haha. If you had told me good news and then I get the game and then there's nothing to do post-game, that would be worse.

And I also don't know anyone who plays Pokemon (IRL that is. Obviously this forum is into it), so the casual aspect of multiplayer wouldn't be for me either.
 
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