ThePokemongames have had a wide variety of charming music over the years that fans have come to know and love. Unfortunately, listening to those tracks outside of the games can sometimes be difficult, so fans were delighted when The Pokemon Company revealed that it would be hosting the soundtrack forPokemonDiamondandPearlonline, free for streaming or downloading purposes.
However, it seems that time is already coming to an end. The Pokemon Company has now announced that thePokemon DiamondandPearlsound librarywill be shut down very soon.
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Back in February, The Pokemon Companyopened the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sound librarywith a range of sound effects and songs from the game. It came following the removal of manyPokemon-related song uploads on YouTube, leading some to believe that the YouTube takedowns were so The Pokemon Company could host the tracks itself. The new announcement, however, has revealed that the sound library will be shut down for good at the end of the month, on May 31 at 9 am UTC.
After just three months online, it seems quite odd for The Pokemon Company to make this decision now. For anyone who has missed out on the opportunity to check out these tracks, the full collection can still be downloaded up until the shutdown date, so now is a good time to visit the site.
There hasn’t been any official explanation shared for the shutdown. Given that all of the tracks were hosted by The Pokemon Company and running off of a custom website, there may not have been enough of an incentive to keep it up and running. It’s unfortunate, though, as some fans had hoped that morePokemonsoundtrackswould eventually come to the service and be available for download.
Pokemonfans seem generally confused and frustrated by the decision, and with good reason.Pokemonand other Nintendo songs can be difficult to locate online, as the vast majority of them aren’t available on official streaming services or even for digital purchase. Many channels on YouTube took the opportunity to compensate by uploading hundreds of songs to the site, but with those taken down and no official replacement,Pokemonfans may be stuck missing some of their favorite tunes.
Thankfully, not all video game soundtracks are as difficult to listen to these days. Major developers like Square Enix have posted their soundtracks on services like Apple Music and YouTube, while game OSTs likePersonaare also available to stream via Spotify. It remains to be seen if Nintendo will ever follow the trend, but for now, time is running out on the easy availability ofPokemon DiamondandPearl’s soundtrack.
