HMs will not be included in Pokemon Sword/Shield, Game Freak has confirmed.
Explaining the decision, planning director Kazumasa Iwao said that the feature didn’t match up well with the new Switch entry. He said:
“I think they played a role in the series traditionally to be like the relationship between a door and a key; the HM will unlock something and you’re able to progress and feel the ability to go to a new place. We didn’t have them in Sun and Moon, and this time around, we didn’t feel it really matched the concept, especially with the Wild Area and wanting to have this higher degree of freedom. The player can kind of choose how they want to engage with the gameplay. Having the more HM-based elements, we didn’t feel it really matched the game, so this time around they’re not in it.”
