Pokemon Champions has launched to mixed reviews and all sorts of controversy from reports of performance issues to the removal of longheld competitive strategies, but arguably the most urgent issue is that it seems to be trapping some players' Pokemon "in limbo."
Competitive Pokemon VGC player Justin Carris (thanks, Kotaku) flagged the issue on Twitter, warning Pokemon Champions players of "a massive bug with transferring pokemon between Pokemon HOME & Champions."
Carris reports that he was trying to transfer Pokemon from the cloud-based Pokemon Home bank over to the new PvP game Pokemon Champions when he received an error message. The message persisted across the Nintendo Switch and mobile versions of Pokemon Home, returning Carris to the home screen and indicating that the transfer hadn't gone through. The thing is, the transfer seems to have been halted halfway through, as Carris was met with a message in Pokemon Home saying he can't trade Pokemon that are "visiting Pokemon Champions."
"They are basically trapped in limbo," he says.
1/?: This error code displays on both mobile and switch versions of HOME; if you get this error those pokemon have actually attempted to move to Champions pic.twitter.com/9rt3IBshDLApril 8, 2026
Carris adds that he got a separate error code when trying to move the Pokemon he tried transferring to Champions back to Scarlet and Violet. That error code doesn't appear when trying to move around Pokemon that weren't involved in the failed Champions transfer, reports Carris.
"I spent hours and hours cultivating the pokemon I would be sending to my copy of champions so that I could start grinding the game, recording footage for videos, and getting a grasp of the meta for my coaching & consulting businesses," he says in a follow-up tweet. "This is an unacceptable setback."
Carris isn't alone in experiencing this issue, but it's unclear exactly how widespread it is. It's also unclear if there's a reliable workaround at the moment. One user suggested Carris uninstall and reinstall Pokemon Home, but Carris says he's done that to no avail. He also confirms none of his Pokemon are "genned," meaning modified using third-party software.
One Japanese-speaking player dealing with the same error received a response from Nintendo support advising them to clear the cache in Pokemon Home alongside several other steps, but the the player says none of that has worked.
I've reached out to The Pokemon Company for clarification, but in the meantime it's best to proceed with caution when transferring from Pokemon Home over to Champions, especially when dealing with your most treasured 'mons.
