Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's second major update fixes more bugs

Pokemon
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet update 1.2 is expected late next month, and will aim to fix more of the bugs and performance issues that have plagued the game since launch.

Earlier today, Nintendo shared more information about the game, outlining the evolutions of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters, the gym leaders players will face, and more details about the Paradox Pokemon discoverable throughout the Paldea region.

The press release ended by confirming that a second software update would be coming to both games "in late February." Nintendo explains that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet update 1.2.0 "will include bug fixes and add functionality," adding that more details would be released ahead of the new update becoming available.

The patch follows an initial post-launch update that arrived on December 1 amid a suite of performance issues. Back then, Nintendo said it was "working on improvements," and apologized for those issues and the inconvenience caused. The patch also included Ranked Battles, but it was clear that the graphical fixes were a key, ongoing focus. In general, while aspects of the games' narrative and open-world design were very well-received, they were held back by the technical performance. In  our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet review, we said that those tech issues "compromised the experience deeply."

It's likely that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet update 1.2.0 won't fix all of the problems that the game faced when it launched, and we're likely to see several similar patches drop over the next several months as Nintendo and Game Freak continue to work to improve the game.

Pokemon's all-time damage record might have been broken in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - by a very sleepy monkey.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.

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