Looks like some Pokémon Sword and Shield players using Surprise Trade are getting more than they bargained for, as hacked Pokémon have been crashing games – and even disabling online features.
First made public by Pokémon modder Kurt on Twitter, the bug occurs when a “maliciously-crafted” Pokémon is sent via the game’s Surprise Trade feature (basically Pokémon roulette). While receiving one of the malicious Pokémon doesn’t corrupt save data, it crashes the game when the player attempts to access online features: effectively disabling online functionality in that particular Sword and Shield save.
According to player accounts, the bug can also occur when a hacked Pokémon is sent during a normal link trade – but this only happens once, and the offending Pokémon can simply be released afterwards.
As of yet, there appears to be no way to solve the surprise trade bug on an unmodded Switch: players either have to restart the save file, or live without online functions until Game Freak patches the bug.
Eurogamer has contacted Nintendo for comment, but has not heard back at time of writing.
Beware! There’s a bug in Sword/Shield that can crash your game if you receive a maliciously crafted Pokémon via Surprise Trade. It’ll crash your game when you try to access online features (via Y-COM), preventing online interactions until a patch is released.
— Kurt (@Kaphotics) February 12, 2020
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It seems there have already been a small number of reported cases in the wild, with some victims sharing videos of the problem. The unpatched bug is now causing something of a panic amongst Pokémon Sword and Shield players, many of whom are refusing to surprise trade until the problem is fixed. But exactly how widespread is the problem, and should players be concerned?