Pokemon Go Still Has Plans for Trading and PvP Battles

Pokemon Go hasn't forgotten about some of its most requested features. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Magazine, Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara said that there were still plans to add trading and player vs player battles to the popular mobile app.

"We've only accomplished 10 percent of what Pokémon and Niantic are trying to do," Ishihara said. "So going forward we will have to include fundamental Pokémon experiences such as Pokémon trading and peer-to-peer battles, and other possibilities."

Trading and single player battles were included in Pokemon Go's early plans, but they were scrapped due to the time and resources needed to code the features into the game. Trading and PvP battles were placed on the backburner after launch so that Niantic could focus on stabilizing the game and then adding features like new Pokemon designed to keep its fanbase engaged and catching Pokemon.

Players had hoped that trading and PvP battles would be among the "three major updates" planned for 2017, but it seems unlikely now...especially as Pokemon Go has started work on adding more Pokemon from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire into the code. However, there is some code leftover from Pokemon Go's past attempts to add trading to the game, so it's possible that they're still working on a solution for the not so distant future.

In the interview, Ishihara also mentioned the challenges of balancing the location-based aspects of Pokemon Go with keeping the game fun for all players. "Depending on location, there are many Pokémon with different characteristics," Ishihara said. "So what do we do with those and the real world?"

"One view is to have chilly Pokémon in a cold climate, but then that would also mean that people born on a tropical island won't be able to catch them. So we are always thinking of how to find the right balance between game design, how our Pokémon should exist, and how players feel about their collections."

Pokemon Go has tried to balance this by using eggs to make Pokemon available to players that don't live in areas where those Pokemon can usually be caught. They've also run special events that make catching certain kinds of Pokemon a lot easier by making them spawn all over the world instead of just certain locations.

You can check out Bloomberg's full interview here.