Since it launched last year, Pokémon TCG Pocket players have been eager to get to do the “trading” part of the game’s title. Well, the feature is finally coming to the hit mobile adaptation later this month, and the developers have revealed how that system will actually work in practice. Will you be able to instantly trade for all the cards missing from your collection? Not quite.
When Pokémon TCG Pocket implements trading later this month it will come with plenty of strict rules limiting precisely how and when players can exchange cards from their collections. It will also restrict them from sharing the rarest cards. Only one-star cards and below will be tradeable. Two-star, three-star, and crown cards, like the gold Charizard Ex, will all be locked to their existing owners’ accounts.
Here’s the full list of rules previewed by Pokémon TCG Pocket’s developers at Creatures, Inc. and DeNA:
- Trades can be done between friends.
- Trades can be done with cards of the same rarity.
- At the time of the trade feature’s launch, certain cards from the Genetic Apex and Mythical Island booster packs will be able to be traded. We are planning to continue to expand the selection of booster packs that you can trade from.
- Cards with a rarity of 1-4 diamond and 1-star can be traded
- Items must be consumed in order to trade.
So basically, trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket will have a currency-limited cooldown and it will only be for older booster pack collections. The team has already confirmed the next set of booster packs beyond Genetic Apex and Mythical Island will go live by the end of January. That suggests that at least for now, the plan is for trading to only be available for “older” sets, presumably the ones where hardcore players have already maxed out most of their library and are just chasing a final handful of cards that still haven’t come up in packs for them.
As you can imagine, this hasn’t gone over well with Pokémon TCG Pocket’s most diehard fans. “So was the point on having all of these copies if I can’t trade for the ones I need?” responded one player. “I have all the sub 1* cards for both sets. I don’t need to trade for them,” responded another. “I need to trade my high end dupes for others high end cards.”
Well known Pokémon YouTuber Austin John Plays also weighed in. “Pulling 3 of the same 2-star while missing several others and not being able to trade them is just soul crushing,” he wrote. “If you’re keeping same rarity, then allow all rarities. Please.” He has a point. If the game is already limiting players to like-for-like swaps, the trading pool will already be severely limited. Locking the rarest cards which have a 0.16 percent pull rate seems to go way overboard.
It’s possible the initial wave of negative feedback could convince the game’s makers to change their minds. “Your concerns are seen,” Pokémon TCG Pocket’s devs responded. “Once this feature becomes available, I’d like to invite everyone to try it and provide feedback. This way, the game can continue to evolve in an enjoyable way for everyone.” Time will tell if that ends up being the case. One estimate already puts the revenue earned from the mobile game at $400 million.
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