As you all know, there has been huge debate over whether Game Freak recreated the 3D Pokemon models for Pokemon Sword and Shield or reused them from the 3DS games.

Although there have been many conflicting statements, we have one new source of information that literally says the 3D Pokemon models in Pokemon Sword and Shield were reused from previous games.

GaijinHunter translated an interview that Game Freak conducted with a technical artist who works at Game Freak. As GaijinHunter understands Japanese at a very profound level, he was able to confirm that the technical artist assisted in bringing over past 3D models to Pokemon Sword and Shield:

“I am a technical artist and I am primarily in charge of model expression for the game series “Pokemon”. Specifically, I work on the development of the shaders for the Nintendo Switch, deciding model specifications, and methods for efficiently refining previously-made models.”

This statement could be found on Game Freak’s official website. We have looked at the statement in Japanese and concur with GaijinHunter’s translation.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.