Pokémon TCG Pocket Aims to Fix Trading After Criticism

Creatures Inc., the developer behind Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, is currently evaluating ways to enhance its recently launched trading feature, which has faced significant criticism from players.

The company acknowledged player feedback in an X/Twitter statement, explaining that certain restrictions were implemented to prevent exploitation but ultimately hindered casual enjoyment of the feature.

While Creatures Inc. promised to address concerns by offering Trade Tokens as event rewards, today's Cresselia ex Drop Event (February 3) notably omitted these items.

The trading system incorporates Trade Tokens—a controversial requirement forcing players to sacrifice five cards of equivalent rarity for each trade. This limitation joins existing monetization mechanics restricting pack openings, Wonder Picks, and now trading activities.

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"Our trading restrictions aim to combat bot activity and multi-account abuse," Creatures Inc. stated. "We wanted to preserve gameplay balance and the core collecting experience while ensuring fairness."

"Player feedback has shown these measures unintentionally limit casual trading. We're exploring improvements and will introduce multiple Trade Token acquisition methods, including event distributions."

The vague response provided no timeline or specific changes, merely confirming community concerns had been noted.

Unease persists among players regarding potential compensation for early adopters, should Trade Token requirements change—early traders might face disproportionate losses.

Creatures Inc.'s limited February 1 release of 200 Trade Tokens (exclusive to $9.99/month Battle Pass subscribers) barely covers trades for the lowest-rarity eligible cards (3 Diamond).

Today's Cresselia ex Drop Event continued this pattern, offering promo cards, Pack Hourglasses, Shinedust, shop tickets, and XP—but no Trade Tokens despite yesterday's pledge.

The community suspects trading was designed primarily for revenue generation—the game reportedly earned $200 million pre-trading in its first month.

This theory gains credibility from the inability to trade 2 Star+ rarity cards, forcing players to spend potentially hundreds on random packs rather than trading for missing pieces. Some collectors reportedly spent around $1,500 to complete the first set.

Player reactions have included accusations of predatory design, labeling the system as "blatantly greedy," "laughably toxic," and a "colossal misstep."