During the closing ceremonies of the recent Pokémon World Championships in Hawaii, The Pokemon Company announced the release date of Pokemon TCG Pocket, a brand new Pokemon card-collecting game similar but uniquely different to the current Pokemon TCG Live game. Pokemon TCG Pocket will launch on October 30, 2024, but how does it differ from Pokemon TCG Live, considering that both games are Pokemon card games on mobile?
Pokemon TCG Pocket will mainly focus on Pokemon card collection, with 2 free booster packs given to players daily. It will also have the gameplay of the traditional Pokemon TCG game, similar to Pokemon TCG Live, but will solely focus on the cards themselves with the new “Immersive Cards” feature. The trailer showcased several holographic Pokemon cards that seem to come alive as players inspect through the cards. Pokemon TCG Pocket will also have app-exclusive card illustrations that many card collectors can add to their collection.
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Compared to Pokemon TCG Live, Pokemon TCG Pocket will target the more casual audience and will most likely try to introduce them to the whole of Pokemon TCG. Instead of having up to 6 Pokemon including an Active Pokemon like Pokemon TCG Live, Pokemon TCG Pocket will only have 4 available Pokemon including the Active Pokemon. It means that a maximum of three Benched Pokemon will be available for Pokemon TCG Pocket, changing the TCG meta with fewer cards. Pokemon TCG Pocket will also have an Energy Zone, an area in the playfield that displays the Energy available to the player. In Pokemon TCG Live, players will have to attach Energy cards to their Pokemon to be able to use Pokemon moves.
Battle-wise, Pokemon TCG Pocket is more newbie-friendly and casual, with a much deeper focus on collecting the cards whereas Pokemon TCG Live is more competitive with its ranked battles and season rankings. While the two TCG games are similar, Pokemon TCG Pocket is an entirely different game with a different developer and will not affect TCG Live.
New and veteran Pokemon fans of the trading card game can now pre-register via Apple AppStore or Google PlayStore.
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