The developer behind Pokemon Sword and Shield confirms that future games in the collect-em-all series will feature a limited Pokedex.

This follows a controversial decision by the studio to limit the number of available Pokemon in the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield.

“We currently have no plans to make the Pokemon that are missing from the Galar Pokedex available in-game,” Game Freak producer Junichi Masuda told Inside Gamer of their plans for Sword and Shield. “This is an approach that we want to continue with in future Pokemon games.”

In previous games in the series, two versions of the Pokedex would be offered. The regional Pokedex would cover those Pokemon found in the habitat of the zone you’re in, while the national Pokedex would cover every Pokemon discovered up to that point, and was filled in by trading from other games. In Pokemon Sword and Shield, the national Pokedex will be unavailable: whatever selection of Pokemon are native to the game’s Galar region will be all there is. While you can trade in from other games using the newly announced Pokemon Home service, you’ll only be able to bring over Pokemon already native to the Galar region.

“Up until now it hasn’t been possible to encounter every Pokemon in every game, so people had to transfer them from old games to the new game, by using Pokemon Bank for example,” Masuda continues.

“The Pokemon Home app is currently in development, in which players can collect their various Pokemon, and only Pokemon in the Galar Pokedex can be transferred from there to Sword and Shield. But the way of playing is actually not very different from before with Pokemon Bank: up until now you have always only been able to meet Pokemon from a certain region.”

“We encourage people to use Pokemon Home to collect their Pokemon from old games. From there they might be able to take them to other games in the future. So take good care of your old Pokemon, because perhaps you can travel with them again in the future.”

The news that Pokemon Sword and Shield would limit its national dex first dropped on an E3 live stream, leading to the Twitter hashtag #bringbackthenationaldex, with the social site counting 25,000-plus tweets to the movement.

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Pokemon Sword and Shield arrives this month on November 15. In the meantime, you can check out our own chat with Masuda right here.