The Pokémon Company has issued a statement regarding the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket trading feature. The long-awaited mechanic was implemented last week, and fans have called out the feature for its monetary restrictions. I did a full breakdown on what exactly makes the trading mechanics so bad here, but the short version is: you need tokens to trade cards, you can only get tokens from destroying rare cards, and the payoffs aren’t worth it.
The Pokémon Company says it is aware of the outcry regarding the feature. It claims that since it was released, there has been a large number of comments criticizing the requirements. The statement says that the item restrictions were implemented into Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket specifically to prevent abuse from bots and to prohibit users from making multiple accounts to take advantage of the trade system.
The company says it understands that some of the restrictions are preventing players from being able to casually enjoy the trading feature and that an investigation is underway to find ways to improve the experience. It closes the statement by confirming new ways to earn trade tokens are going to be offered to players. This includes through event distribution.
It is nice to see the company acknowledge the problem. However, until it implements a system where you can trash common cards for Trade Tokens, the restrictions are going to always be challenging. While the company claims these restrictions are in place to prevent bots from taking advantage, it seems more in place to force players to spend more real money in the game.
— Pokémon TCG Pocket (@PokemonTCGP) January 31, 2025