Image: Creatures Inc. and DeNA
Actions will be taken against cheaters and real-money traders.
Pokémon TCG Pocket is set to have the biggest update with the arrival of its new expansion, Space-Time Smackdown, along with the most-awaited trading feature.
But before the update arrives, developers Creatures Inc. and DeNA have issued a warning to players against cheating and real money trading ahead of time.
Devs pushed the announcement in the newsfeed of players in-game on Monday afternoon (27 January).
“Thank you for playing Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. We are aware that some players have engaged in data tampering, real-money trading, and other behaviours that violate the Terms of Use,” the announcement read.
“If we confirm that a player has engaged in behaviour that violates the Terms of Use, we will warn them, suspend their account, or take other action.”
Devs appear to be anticipating a potential surge in real-money trading for virtual cards once the trading feature goes live in January. Just like many games, some players opt to trade and bid through third-party apps like Reddit or Discord, and Pokémon TCG Pocket won’t be an exception, especially since in-game trading is arriving this week.
To prevent this the trading feature in TCG pocket has been limited to one-star cards and below. Rare cards, such as gold variants with a drop rate of just 0.0533%, will remain locked into player accounts. There’s still the danger of account selling, but since TCG Pocket is all about collecting and trading, this might not be as lucrative. All activities mentioned violate the terms of use.
On top of this, players on the r/PTCGP subreddit suggest that this warning might also be addressing several questionable practices. One such practice is known as Wonder Pick Farming, which involves players creating multiple new accounts to exploit the free packs given to new players daily.
The goal is to secure the “god pack” which is a rare pack containing five highly sought-after cards. Once obtained, these players sell their friend codes to others, allowing buyers to add them as friends and view the "god pack" through the game’s Wonder Pick feature, guaranteeing a rare card.
And according to Redditors, another suspected target for the crackdown involves players grinding accounts up to level 50 and stockpiling on in-game currency. This is done by repeatedly engaging in PvP battles and abusing the game's timeout mechanic to force opponents to concede, allowing them to rack up wins efficiently.
However, with warnings already in place, the number of cheaters and those potentially looking into real-money trading should be deterred. The Space-Time Smackdown expansion and card trading will arrive on 30 January (SGT).
