The Pokémon Company will release a new mobile game based on their popular trading card game later this year. Then, in 2025, they plan to release Pokémon Legends: Z-A, an “ambitious” game we’re ready to call a hasty response to upstart Pokémon-with-guns clone Palworld.
Pokémon Day (February 27th) was a weird one for me. This was the first year I’ve been following the franchise’s news and actively playing. I expected big things on the Pokémon TCG Live game, but very little came across my radar except for some local sales. Oh, and two Pokémon game announcements. Let’s check those out and see if we can read more into the teaser trailers than we really should.
Is Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket Really a Pokémon Game?
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is an upcoming mobile game that seems to be more about opening packs than playing the included stripped-down version of the physical card game. It includes visual effects, “immersive” cards, and art from back in the day. Oh, and you can play quick battles. (It really seems like an afterthought when you analyze their marketing text.)
I’ll bet the marketing gurus at The Pokémon Company figured that the best way to sell more physical cards was to train the young ’uns on digital packs. Give them the dopamine hit that collecting brings twice daily, and you’ll hook them for life. The kids don’t even know how to spell “NFT” yet. If I sound like an old man shaking my fist at newfangled technology, then so be it.
I love that the mobile game will offer a shorter, quicker version of what Pokémon TCG Live does. That’s not a bad thing. However, we don’t know if Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (what a mouthful) will sync with Pokémon TCG Live yet. If not, it would be a deal breaker for Live’s existing player base.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
The second game announcement gave us a relatively cryptic teaser trailer. Is this a Palworld versus Pokémon cage match or the story of Pikachu’s studies in architecture? Here, you decide:
Yes, The Pokémon Company gave us a trailer with no gameplay footage. And Pokémon Legends: Z-A is scheduled for a 2025 release. Remember that many, many games have released gameplay trailers and failed to launch the following year. It takes a lot to make a good game, and time is one of those many things. The boss wants a game “as soon as possible” to make money. However, on the other hand, the developers know a game’s only ready when it’s ready. Even if Game Freak (the producer) stretches out the release until Christmas 2025, we’d still expect a playable game to kick around their offices. We want to see it.
I’m not optimistic. Pokémon Legends: Z-A feels like a rebuttal to Palworld that’s out of the gate too early. Of course, the keepers of the Pokémon franchise might be keeping their Trainer cards close to their chests because a Palworld exists and is in open beta. It’s too soon to tell.
You’ll Grow Out of It
Upfront, I admit that Pokémon hasn’t grabbed my attention. I’ve enjoyed Pokémon TCG Live because I generally love trading card games. I enjoy finding good card synergies, whatever the setting. But cutesy fighting monsters is just not my jam, kids. And Pokémon is for kids. Still, many of us were kids when we first encountered Pokémon on the Game Boy, TV, or as the Pokémon card game. Nostalgia sells. But should The Pokémon Company still pander to older fans?
A third-person shooter, like Zombie Shooting Star, now that’s something I’ll play. Palworld figured that out. Steam’s recommendations — which work hard to empty my wallet — tell me that players like me love Palworld. I expect many J-List fans to have a similar taste for violence.
Either way, this battle won’t be decided in the Poké Arena.
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Are you over Pokémon, or still loyal? Have you played Palworld? What is it about guns and cute monsters that float your boat? We want to know! Tell us in the comments below.
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Sources: IGN, Pokemon.com, and Steam.
