Certain online features available in Pokemon Sword and Shield will be removed from the games come November 1, including Wild Area news and the Battle Stadium's ranked seasons. Being the eighth mainline entries in the Pokemon franchise, Sword and Shield gave fans of the series plenty of new features and concepts when they first launched back in 2019. Players got their first taste of an open-world Pokemon experience in the Wild Area, for example, which allowed trainers to roam around catching all types of Pokemon in different zones that could be accessed very early on.