On Pokémon TCG Pocket

11/7/2024

This was originally a thread on Bluesky, which you can see here. I liked what I wrote enough that I wanted to put it on the site. This is why it's written a bit differently. It is slightly edited from the thread.

Seeing TCG Pocket blow up compared the much more niche TCG Live says a lot. Not really anything good or bad, it's just been interesting to see. As extremely popular as Pokémon is, is how many times have you heard (or said yourself) "I don't know anything about the TCG"?

Live is such a wet fart of a game for various reasons, but would a better, prettier simulator have attracted this audience? I have a hunch that says, probably not. Having a mobile tailored experience is a good thing. "Real" PTCG games are not usually quick downtime affairs to play. I think even if Live was really, really good, it doesn't line up with all the other Pokémon mobile games that let you swipe your credit card**. Not without a big overhaul.

Live is so unpopular, that I see a lot of Bluesky posters who seem to have have no idea that Pocket isn't the first PTCG mobile experience, or don't feel the need to distinct which app/game they're playing. Very interesting indeed. PTCG has been growing enormously in real life event turnout. It's just fascinating to me how the most popular thing in the world seems to have had such a blind spot with people, at least relatively to how popular the rest of it seems to be. It's not like Pokémon card sales have ever been in the pits, not that I know of anyway.

Not a fan of having to denote *which* PTCG game we are talking about, but pretty much every other game gets through this just fine. I saw a handful posts thinking the new Prismatic Evolution set was for Pocket. That's amusing (and nothing else) but it shows that blind spot again.

I don't want to be misunderstood. My thoughts aren't about "normies" or "casuals", it's just how different approaches to what is basically the same thing can hit really different audiences. So different, that one group of players might only barely aware of the others. Pocket has succeeded greatly.

My big curiosity today is about what Pocket players now will do after a year or so. Who will start collecting paper cards? Who will be whaling on stream for chase cards? Who will be bemoaning the meta, if they battle at all! All of these can play out in varying degrees. It's very interesting.

**There is no way to directly spend money in Pokemon TCG Live. The closest equivalent would be going to buy real life card packs and using the code card. You can also buy code cards (or just the codes) online. I think that was the idea behind it, to increase potential pack sales. But as far as I know, GO, Masters EX, and Unite, all have in-game monetization. So you can see how Live is the stand out.

- James