Look people have been walking through VGC with hacked Pokemon since halfway through D/P. This is a failsafe way to make sure any Pokemon you got off the old GTS wasn't hacked. How many of you have been caught with hacked Pokemon or could not compete online because of said hacked Pokemon you got off the GTS? Besides, this is Nintendos way of getting alot of that hacking down-and only the really GOOD hacks will pass though. You all are whining and moaning about nothing. Because VGC will change DRAMATICALLY this year especially when they flip the format to X/Y they want to make sure its as fair as possible-no more of this all shiny suspicious garbage that gets though preliminary hack checks. Pokesaving and creating Pokemon from apps is a thing you know?
This is an OPTIONAL service the app transfer is just one way to give every a "fresh start" in a way-very few hacks would survie not one but two passes in the system. WHo knows-this could be the way they check at Worlds and this is a great way to check your own Pokemon before entering. And its a YEARLY subscription, not monthly. Also keep in mind they kept fees off of VGC players this year and this could be a nice ninja way of seeing what kind of money they could get offering a service that will be used by both collectors and hard core VGC/1v1 players.
I'll repost what I put on my FB post this morning which sums up all my points better-
Ok everyone, before you whine and complain about Pokemon Cloud Storage having a 5 dollar fee a YEAR to store pokemon (wow what a pocket buster) here's a few things to keep in mind-
+ Because you are PAYING for said service, Nintendo is held more accountable for your data than a "free cloud service". Free providers don't have to care jack squat whether their servers crash and you didn't pay a dime into their system and you loose your files.
+ This is to prevent the ridiculous amount of cheating that has exploded since halfway through D/P era and through B/W when apps were made for Iphones, computers etc to hack legitimate looking pokemon and send data through proxy wifi servers and such. You could literally make a Pokemon from scratch on your phone or computer (not that its recommended) and take that to VGC tournaments and circumvent most of their anti hack checking systems.
+ Before you complain about "why couldn't they use the SD card/Internal mechanics" its because that's prone to hacking in some form or fashion as well. From what I understand of this new Banking and App transfer thing, its to flag and crack down on hacked Pokemon, even the ones that pass MOST legitimacy checks but their PID's and such may or may not match up with, say, shininess. This is Nintendos best way of preventing hacked Pokemon when they host the new X/Y format for the upcoming competitive season.
+ For competitive players- Every division STILL does not have to pay an entry fee for the Video Games, yet the Masters in the TCG do! Charging everyone who wants cloud storage 5-15 bucks a YEAR is kind of a smart way to cater to both collectors and to batttelers. Do you REALLY want to store multiple teams, spreads etc. all on one cart? Server costs may be a non-issue for Nintendo, but this is kind of a ninja way of getting competitive players to pay a "fee" (of course there's no real fee to enter VGC but given the lure of storing teams off your cartridge especially when you're mass breeding? yes please)
+ Other big gaming companies not only charge you for a game, but give you DLC you need to complete the game and/or to get better endings. Some even have subscription fees. Nintendo will offer a FREE TRIAL PERIOD, in which case afterwards you can pay to continue using the service. Their DLC is usually fair and not heavy handed. This is a yearly subscription fee. YEARLY. And how much money do you think they bled offering a free DW for as long as they did? By the way, the Cloud service is not a necessary part of the game-its essentially an online Pokemon Box (from the R/S era) just not in console form and probably storing waaaaayyy more Pokemon. Why make a console version as a stand alone that not that many people would buy but a few hard core players and spend money coding that and only get maybe 20-25 bucks a pop with no returns when you can collect a 5-15 buck fee across the board and keep getting potential returns on it?