How “Pokemon TCG Pocket” Will Usher in a Massive New Era for the Pokemon TCG

By: Water Pokémon Master · Posted Posted onFeb 28, 2024 at 5:07 PM · 27 Comments

At first glance, Pokemon TCG Pocket appears to be an inferior Pokemon TCG experience. Some fans may even see it as a useless or pointless app.

You’re supposed to collect digital cards, not real ones? You have to pay for virtual packs? The game features watered-down Pokemon TCG battles — and they’re using the simplified mechanics from those weird My First Battle decks?

Why is Pokemon making this app? I didn’t understand the point of it when it was revealed on Pokemon Day. I wanted to find out — and the answers completely changed my perception.

To understand why The Pokemon Company is creating this app, we need to look at the larger gaming industry. Specifically 2017’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links and 2023’s Marvel Snap. Both are digital trading card game apps that feature card collecting and simpler battles.

Yu-Gi-Oh in particular has already accomplished what Pokemon is planning. Their Duel Links app is analogous to Pokemon TCG Pocket, featuring lighter mechanics and quick battles. Then if you want the full Yu-Gi-Oh experience, you can play their Master Duel app, which is analogous to Pokemon TCG Live.

Despite featuring a lighter version of the game, Duel Links has generated a stunning amount of downloads and revenue for Konami, the makers of Yu-Gi-Oh.

In the first half of 2021, it had earned over $110 million, making it the top-grossing card battler mobile game during the period. By September 2022, Duel Links had received over 150 million downloads worldwide. According to Konami at the time, “Duelists across the world have collected more than 75 billion cards and have done battle in 7 billion Duels.”

Marvel Snap saw its full launch in 2023. By August 2023, it reached over 22 million downloads and $100 million in revenue. It dethroned Duel Links to become the top-grossing collectible card game on mobile, generating over $73 million in in-app purchases from January 2023 to August 2023. This was followed by Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel ($33.4 million), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links ($21.8 million), Magic: The Gathering Arena ($19.6 million), and Hearthstone ($18.6 million).

The success of these apps undoubtedly caught Pokemon’s attention, and explains why they are entering the space with Pokemon TCG Pocket. Their obvious goal is to capture market share and introduce mobile gamers to the Pokemon TCG.

But why are these apps popular with fans of their respective franchises? You don’t get to own physical cards. The game mechanics are simpler. And for Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, there are official apps with the “real” experience.

Rory O., a top Yu-Gi-Oh player, explained to me that the selling point of Duel Links has always been its accessibility.

“When it comes to card collecting in Pokemon, you have to go to a store and spend $5 on a pack. This is becoming a larger and larger hurdle in today’s world with increasing expenses and less free time. An app like Duel Links and now Pocket is a well-balanced compromise for casual fans: you can open packs from the convenience of your phone, for free, or for cheaper than the real product. I imagine Pocket will essentially be a ‘diet’ Pokemon TCG. It’ll be appealing to people who just want to open cards, have a collection with their favorite Pokemon to look at on the go, and maybe learn how to battle now and then.”

A Yu-Gi-Oh player from my Pokemon League, Griffin S., also agreed the accessibility is what makes Duel Links so successful. “People who can’t or won’t reach a local game store can still participate. They can easily open packs, build a digital collection, and feel that pleasure. It feels less cumbersome than a physical collection. It may not scratch the itch of a real collection for a normal fan. But it scratches the itch to play for casual fans.”

Both players agree Duel Links lowers the barrier for learning how to play. Rory O. stated, “Duel Links was a lot easier to play and understand when I was new to Yu-Gi-Oh. I originally played Duel Links expecting the full version of Yu-Gi-Oh, but instead got a pretty different game. It has incredibly quick battles and its own metagame. It’s fun to jump into. Playing modern Yu-Gi-Oh has a pretty large knowledge hurdle. But some of my favorite decks that would be considered ‘casual’ or ‘rogue’ in the main game were pretty strong in the Duel Links metagame. The Pokemon TCG has always been relatively simple, but perhaps Pocket will make it easier for less experienced or younger players to enjoy it.”

Griffin S. went on to say, “The Duel Links gameplay is amazing and the simplified format and smaller decks means decks not often ‘powerful enough’ in the main TCG perform much better. The UI is stripped down and suits a mobile platform really well.”

All of this said, some players have expressed concern with the app’s potential management. “I worry Pocket will just be a bad game because PTCGL is a bad game,” said Griffin S. “It has a lot of bugs and issues.”

While Pokemon TCG Live is developed by TPCi, Pokemon TCG Pocket will be developed by Creatures and DeNA. Creatures develops the Pokemon TCG while DeNA created Pokemon Masters EX.

If the app does even as half as well as other franchises, we could see a huge surge of new fans joining the Pokemon TCG!

View thread (27 replies)
One problem is, these cards cannot be graded by PSA or something. So there's nothing in it for collectors.
Also it is easier to create fake digital cards than real physical ones, so scammers and scalpers will take advantage of this.
Lastly, can you sell or trade these cards like NFTs ?
 
bbb888 said:
One problem is, these cards cannot be graded by PSA or something. So there's nothing in it for collectors.
Also it is easier to create fake digital cards than real physical ones, so scammers and scalpers will take advantage of this.
Lastly, can you sell or trade these cards like NFTs ?
Click to expand...
Most people who buy Pokemon cards don't have anything graded; they're just buying packs for their own amusement.
Card collections in apps like these exist on the game developers' servers; it's essentially impossible to create fake digital cards.
Pocket will have a trading feature; the way it's presented in the trailer suggests it might be local only (though I guess that could be for dramatic effect).
 
bbb888 said:
One problem is, these cards cannot be graded by PSA or something. So there's nothing in it for collectors.
Also it is easier to create fake digital cards than real physical ones, so scammers and scalpers will take advantage of this.
Lastly, can you sell or trade these cards like NFTs ?
Click to expand...
I keep seeing the term NFT thrown around, so I just want to clarify something. If you pull a Charizard ex from your pack, it isn't like you are the only person in the world who owns a Charizard ex. It will be worth just as much any other Charizard ex that anyone else has pulled, and if you want to build a deck around it. You are going to most likely want multiple copies of it anyways. Setting aside that most actual NFTs are very rarely something the buyer actually owns in the end anyways, they're just digital cards. The same as any other digital game piece like cards in Yugioh Master Duel or Gear in MMOs. You can trade them to other players for cards, but again. The same cards that you are equally likely to pull from your packs. If I don't want my Charizard ex, I can trade it to you for your Mewtwo ex so you can have 2 Charizard ex. While I'm sure some players will use 3rd party sites to exchange cash allow themselves to trade rare cards for common cards, Nintendo's main goal is gonna to be getting you to buy more packs from the in-game store for micro transactions.
 
bbb888 said:
One problem is, these cards cannot be graded by PSA or something. So there's nothing in it for collectors.
Also it is easier to create fake digital cards than real physical ones, so scammers and scalpers will take advantage of this.
Lastly, can you sell or trade these cards like NFTs ?
Click to expand...

Is this bait?

People grading with PSA are such a small % of the amount of people who collect.

This is a one way transaction, you pay TPC to get packs. It doesn't exist outside of the app. There is no way to scam someone with fake cards lol.

NFTs are a scam which was intended to prop up crypto for a season. Why even bother bringing that up?
 
MaybeitsMetagross said:
Alright, but the real question is, when can I play GLC format on TCGLive and challenge my friends?
I don't get why they can't just support Live equal to or better than Pocket, even if that means adding micro transactions to Live.

I just want to Smooth Over for a VS Seeker, it's all im asking.
Click to expand...
Did you gloss over the part where it explains Live is made by TPCi and Pocket is made by TPC? "Why can't the support Live equal to or better than Pocket" well, because TPCi doesn't have the money TPC has and it doesn't get any funding from it, the same way TPC never funded Online.
 
"perhaps Pocket will make it easier for less experienced or younger players to enjoy it.”
Hm. You think it can teach an old fossil like me how to play? That would be cool.

And as a semi casual collector, I can confirm that I too have not a single graded card!

Casual digital collectors actually are not uncommon. I know plenty of people who would play some games for hundrets of hours just to complete a collection of essentially pixels, and I am admittedly one of them. The reward here is not "look what wealth I have in items", its just the rewarding feeling of finishing a 3000 pieces puzzle and knowing what you all conquered/endured/experienced on the way.

Not every collector collects for worth. Some people just really love the view of a set, like making memories with other collectors or are very easily calmed by sorting cards ( hello? ye? I will GLADLY order your entire magic collection, yes. No I need no payment, just let me sit here )
Aside from that last point, pocket seems to provide, so yeah I can see it possibly take off.
 

MaybeitsMetagross said:
Alright, but the real question is, when can I play GLC format on TCGLive and challenge my friends?
I don't get why they can't just support Live equal to or better than Pocket, even if that means adding micro transactions to Live.

I just want to Smooth Over for a VS Seeker, it's all im asking.
Click to expand...
GameFreak and Creatures want to have a digital client that customers from Asia can play (PTCGL is made by PTCGi and locked to mostly North America and Europe). In theory they could give PTCGi a much bigger budget and tell them to improve the game and push it worldwide. But there are some issues with that.

1: The client, as is, kinda sucks. It is buggy, kinda ugly, and can barely keep a 2.6 rating on the app store. And in the 2 years it has been out, it has made very little meaningful improvements, though the battle log is nice to finally have. Why trust that team with a much larger budget when they can just do it themselves to ensure it meets their standards?

2: They want to make bank off this app! You can't buy packs for irl money on PTCGL. The closest you get is using codes from irl packs to scan to get in-game packs. Japanese packs DO NOT CONTAIN SCAN CODES. So they'd need to either scrap and redo PTCGL's entire shop model, or change the way they print Japanese packs to accommodate for it. And again, why do that when they can just make their own app that uses a shop system much more likely to draw in whales?

3: That all being said! I really want a GLC client too. Grass Gym Leaders represent!
 
MaybeitsMetagross said:
Alright, but the real question is, when can I play GLC format on TCGLive and challenge my friends?
I don't get why they can't just support Live equal to or better than Pocket, even if that means adding micro transactions to Live.

I just want to Smooth Over for a VS Seeker, it's all im asking.
Click to expand...
As explained in the article the two games are handled by 2 different companies, Pocket by Creatures and DeNA, Live by TPCi. TPCi have very little money compared to the likes of TPC, Creatures and Game Freak.

Since they're completely different companies support will differ, in fact the old TCG Online was outsourced to a 3rd party (Dire Wolf) but to save money TPCi moved development in-house and were forced to build a new client from scratch since Dire Wolf owned the rights to the old game. Live operates at a loss.

They explored adding microtransactions to TCG Online but abandoned it since it would mean in many countries, Junior age players would not be allowed to play the game, since they want to eventually use the game for playing official events and earning points, this would give Junior players in some counties more access to points than others.
 
bbb888 said:
One problem is, these cards cannot be graded by PSA or something. So there's nothing in it for collectors.
Also it is easier to create fake digital cards than real physical ones, so scammers and scalpers will take advantage of this.
Lastly, can you sell or trade these cards like NFTs ?
Click to expand...
Trading may only be in person, just like in Pokémon GO.
 
I get lowering the entry level but to me personally I feel like Pokemon has always been relatively easy to understand. I'm a big TCG guy and Pokemon has been the easiest to teach out of all of the big TCGs out there. But I get there are a bunch of casual fans that think the TCG is intimidating so maybe this app will help get them into it
 
Reminder that Game Freak is poison to this brand and every time another company gets their hands on this IP, they make magic with it.
 
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