‘Pokemon Go' News And Updates: Niantic Considers Pokemon Trading With Nearby Players; Critics Label Plan Disastrous

by RG Ferrer / Mar 03, 2017 03:14 AM EST

Children play Pokemon Go in Central Park as Pokemon Go craze hits New York City on July 29, 2016 in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Avid fans of Niantic's mobile gaming app "Pokemon Go" have been clamoring for various improvements to be added to the game. One of the highly requested enhancements has been Pokemon trading which might soon be deployed although some critics conveyed apprehensions over the said gaming feature.

"Pokemon Go" took the world by storm when Niantic unleashed the said mobile gaming app in 2016. More than six months after its release, the game has seen its share of tech issues, bug fixes and improvements that changed some of its gameplay elements and introduced several new Pokemon creatures.

However, many gamers have been hoping that Niantic will unleash a Pokemon trading feature for "Pokemon Go." It appears that game developers have already started to work on the said feature although it may not be what players might have envisioned it to be.

In an interview Polygon, the game's Senior Product Manager Tatsuo Nomura shared that Pokemon trading in "Pokemon Go" will have a limited coverage. Exchanging creatures with players located 100 miles away, as well as through the internet, will not be possible, according to Nomura.

Niantic is still adamant to retain the social feature of the game where players can interact with other "Pokemon Go" gamers. Nomura also highlighted that the highly-awaited Pokemon trading feature will not solve spawn rate issues in rural areas.

Nomura commented that their plan for the upcoming gameplay element is to increase interactions between players living in various regions to meet up and exchange Pokemon creatures. He added, "We don't want to just have that be an online game that you can just exchange virtually."

The gaming executive also mentioned that Niantic has been carefully looking at the various design elements and game mechanics for the highly-awaited Pokemon trading feature. Nomura stated that the said process is necessary for ensuring that everything "makes sense so it doesn't kill the game."

Meanwhile, a report posted on Forbes highlighted how adding the Pokemon trading feature to "Pokemon Go" would be a bad idea. Apart from potential safety issues where some players may be enticed into meeting strangers in the ruse of exchanging Pokemon characters, the said gameplay element might also result to black market situations where players would have to pay to get the Pokemon.

At this point, it is unclear whether game developers will be able to design a Pokemon trading feature that will meet the fans' requests but with sufficient security measures in place. Niantic is expected to deploy the said "Pokemon Go" gaming element in the latter part of the year.