It’s A Whole New World We Live In
The last year or so has seen an absolute explosion in the Pokemon Trading Card Game‘s popularity – first launched way back in 1996, the Pokemon TCG has been a staple of playground competition for decades now. However, the rise of “investors” and scalpers mainly fueled by massive YouTubers like Logan Paul who have gotten into the game since the start of the pandemic has made it pretty tough to get your hands on cards these days. Now, with the Pokemon TCG at the height of its popularity, The Pokemon Company have announced the upcoming launch of a brand-new online client for the game, Pokemon Trading Card Game Live.
The Pokemon TCG is no stranger to online clients – Pokemon Trading Card Game Online has been a long-standing free client, first released in 2011 as the Pokemon Trainer Challenge. However, as the years went on it became clear that the client had become a bit complex and outdated (in particular the card trading systems were a pain to use), and now the time has finally come for it to be replaced. he announcement came as the TCG celebrates its 25th birthday this year – Pokemon TCG Live is a free-to-play app in the style of its biggest rival, Magic The Gathering: Arena.
Pokemon TCG Live will be available on both PC and mobile devices, a feature that the previous client was sorely missing. Other than that, it seems that there’s a lot of similarities between the two – you’ll be able to redeem codes included in physical card packs to get in-game cards, customize your in-game avatar, and complete daily quests for in-game rewards. Of course, there’ll also be the opportunity to buy cards and cosmetics with real money.
We haven’t got an official release date quite yet, but keep an eye on Pokemon TCG Online over the next few months – the old client will be officially sunset in the run-up to Pokemon TCG Live’s release, so an announcement there may be our first indication that they’re getting ready to launch.