Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket Trading Feature Proves Unpopular With Players

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket Trading Feature Proves Unpopular With Players

Earlier this week, The Pokemon Company released a trading feature for Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, allowing players to trade certain cards with their friends with some heavy restrictions.

The feature in its current state has proven to be extremely unpopular with fans, primarily due to the aforementioned restrictions, which include the following:

  • Limited to cards of 1 – 4 Diamond and 1 Star rarity.
  • Cards can only be traded if they are of the same rarity (e.g. a 1 Diamond card can only be traded for another 1 Diamond card).
  • Only 1 trade can be done at a time, and only with in-game friends.
  • You cannot specify what card you want in exchange.
  • You must expend Trade Hourglasses to do trades, which can only be replenished by waiting or paying real money.
  • You must also expend Trade Tokens, a separate in-game currency which can only be obtained by selling your existing cards.
    • To give an example, players would need to sell off  4 duplicate 1 Star cards to get enough Trade Tokens to trade a single 1 Star card, making it very un-economical.
  • Cards with a flair can only be traded with other cards with a flair.

Many players have criticized these restrictions, saying that “the game doesn’t want anyone trading cards” and that they should drop the word “trading” from the game. The game’s subreddit is also flooded with memes mocking the situation:

Me after finding out more about the trade system we've waited months for
byu/SaulC123 inPTCGP

Just Like Old Times
byu/DonFiglioni inPTCGP

Trading Feature in a nutshell
byu/another_jap inPTCGP

fair and balanced trading system
byu/that-ninja-frog inPTCGP

Fixed the logo guys, don't worry
byu/Babbledoodle inPTCGP

"Trading is bad on purpose so they can make money"
byu/BubbleWario inPTCGP

As the above post suggests, many fans believe that the reason trading is so convoluted is to ensure that players will continue to open card packs in search of rare cards, instead of just easily trading their duplicates. The card packs are Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s primary source of revenue, and any feature that discourages opening card packs could affect the app’s bottom line.

That said, the Pokemon Company has stated that they are listening to feedback about the trade feature, so it is possible that it will be readjusted somewhere down the line if fans are loud enough in their criticisms. Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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