When Nintendo announced Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee for later this year, they also announced Pokemon 8, the eighth generation of the long running series that will come to the Nintendo Switch, bringing the more traditional style of handheld monster catching that Pokemon fans are used to, know, and love.
Pokemon Gen 8 was originally announced for 2019, with Nintendo specifying “the second half of 2019”; however, now they have narrowed down that release window even further. Nintendo’s financial release today listed Pokemon for Nintendo Switch for a “Late 2019” release, which seems to imply the final quarter of the year- which is traditionally when Pokemon games have launched, ever since Pokemon X/Y back in 2013 (though even before then, the Japanese launches of Pokemon games were in the back half of the year; it was just the localizations that followed later).
So- if you want some traditional monster catching on your Switch, you know how long you need to wait. Meanwhile, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee look to be gorgeous palette cleansers ahead of next year’s (hopefully) epic adventure.