Pokémon Trading Card Pocket Game Game has a strange black market, where players buy and sell online digital cards via a controversial trade mechanic.
Countless offers for Pokémon TCG pocket cards appeared on eBay, and players downloaded from $ 5 to 10 per card. This is only possible thanks to the recently introduced trade mechanics of the game, because these sellers simply ask you to replace your friends’ codes with buyers, and then send the card.
One $ 5.99 listing For example, for Ex Stark, he asks buyers to make sure they have 500 trade tokens, one commercial strength, and most importantly, “unwanted Pokémon Ex” to replace the card they really want.
Here, things become a bit strange. Although this is already a gross violation of pocket conditions of the Pokémon TCG service – because “buying or selling virtual content or service data” is not allowed – the seller in these situations basically loses nothing.
The buyer gives up a card that they do not need to make a card that is regular trade outside the price, but the buyer does not lose shares. According to trade restrictions, only the same rarity cards can be mentioned, which means that the seller is gaining ex Pokémon when they sell them, and therefore can simply sell them again.
Countless offers for ex Pokémon and 1 stars, alternative art cards, the two rarest trade available, are listed on eBay, each with different price. Whole accounts are also on sale, offering in them such as an hourglass and uncommon cards, although this is quite common in the case of online games, violations of the service or not.
Trade at Pokémon TCG Pocket turned out to be controversial after releasing last week, although this online trade is not directly related to complaints.
In addition to standard mechanics, which limits players from opening packages or miracles or, now, trading too much without spending money in the real world, the function has also been introduced with additional restrictions called trading tokens. Players criticized the high costs of obtaining them, because they basically had to remove five cards from their collections before they exchanged one of the same rarity.
However, this black market would be born even if trade was released without absolutely any restrictions. The only relationship with what players have complained about so far is how bones are mechanics, because there is no way to trade without making friends with another player.
This is because some players, like siraquakip on RedditI was hoping for “quite a safe way for the community to connect more.” Players called to publicly put cards to public trade in the application, soothing the need to operate external websites, such as Reddit and Discord, and now eBay to find the necessary cards.
Developer Creatures Inc. He has already warned players against buying and selling cards with the facilitate of real world and other cheating methods, telling players before starting trade that “if we confirm that the player was involved in behavior that violates the conditions of use, we warn us to suspend his account or take other actions” .
The irony is that Creatures Inc. He implemented a hated mechanic of commercial tokens to stop using the system in a way exactly like these eBay sellers. That is why it did not act clearly, but changed many communities against the developer.
Currently, “he is actively investigating ways of improving” the commercial function, but he did not publish any details about how he would do it despite complaints starting three weeks ago, when he first presented this function.
Fans claimed that trade is implemented as a way to augment revenues for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which, as estimated, earned half a billion dollars in less than three months before trade was possible.
This also proves the inability to commercial cards with a 2 -star rarity or higher, as if players could immediately replace their missing cards, they would not have to spend 10 or $ 100 or more on an accidental chance to get them. For example, completing the first set, for example, cost one player around USD 1500, and the third in three months arrived last week.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN reporter. He will talk about The Witcher all day.
