Barry Sams—Vice president of the Pokémon TCG at TPCi said:"As we look back on 25 wonderful years of Pokémon, we are once again reminded of how the Pokémon Trading Card Game has always been a strong pillar of the franchise and beloved by young and veteran Trainers alike. Pokémon TCG Live will go hand in hand with the tabletop version that fans know and love, and welcomes a new era of digital play where Trainers around the world can play together regardless of their preferred platform."
The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online app will be removed from the iOS App Store, Google Play, and from Pokemon.com shortly before the release of Pokémon TCG Live. Players of the existing app will be able to migrate their account and game data to the new app on release, using their Pokémon Trainer Club accounts. Content that will transfer includes:
- Cards: Pokémon TCG cards from the Sword & Shield Series, as well as Sun & Moon Series expansions Lost Thunder through Cosmic Eclipse, the Detective Pikachu subset, and portions of the Celebrations special expansion, will all be playable in Pokémon TCG Live from launch. Cards from the Classic Collection within the Celebrations expansion, as well as earlier expansions, including the Black & White, XY, and XY BREAK Series, and Sun & Moon Series expansions from Sun & Moon through Team Up, and the Dragon Majesty special expansion, will also transfer, but will not be playable until future updates to the Pokémon TCG Live app are released. Players will be limited to transfer only playable amounts of each card, i.e. up to four copies of a unique Pokémon TCG card, one copy of an ACE SPEC or Prism Star card, one copy of each part of a Pokémon V-UNION card, and 59 copies of a basic Energy card. Additional copies of individual cards beyond these limits will not be transferred.
- Accessories: One copy per item will be transferred for many of the existing coins, card sleeves, and deck boxes. Additional copies of accessories will not be transferred.
- Cards: Pokémon TCG cards from the HeartGold & SoulSilver Series
- Accessories: Avatar items, as well as certain coins, card sleeves, and deck boxes, will not be transferred
- Unopened products and bundles: While unopened products do not directly transfer to Pokémon TCG Live, players will receive a number of Crystals, the new in-game currency in Pokémon TCG Live, depending on how many unopened items they have at the time of migration. 250 Crystals for between 1 and 9 items; 550 Crystals for between 10 and 24 items; 1125 Crystals for between 25 and 49 items; 2350 Crystals for between 50 and 124 items; or 6200 Crystals if the player has 125 or more unopened items.
- In-game currency from the Pokémon TCG Online is not converted to Pokémon TCG Live crystals
- Friends list
- Saved deck lists will not automatically transfer during the migration process - players are recommended to export the text of their deck lists in the Pokémon TCG Online prior to beginning the migration process, so that they can manually copy those over to Pokémon TCG Live.
Pokémon TCG Live is designed to be easy for beginners to learn how to play the game, while offering fresh challenges for existing players to improve and test their skills. Players will be able to enjoy some of their favorite Pokémon TCG activities, including building decks and battling other Trainers around the world. They will also be able to tailor their experience with customizable avatars and Pokémon TCG accessories, participate in daily quests, and more. In addition, Pokémon TCG Live will continue to be updated with new content and features following launch.
Pokémon TCG Live will be coming soon to supported iOS and Android devices, as well as PCs and Macs. A mobile soft launch will be available for players in Canada and the global open beta for PCs and Macs will be available later this year. Unfortunately, as with the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online before it, there is at this stage no indication that the software will be coming to Nintendo Switch. Players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online who log into Pokémon Trading Card Game Live during the soft launch and open beta will no longer be able to access Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, so make sure that you've gotten yourself fully prepared before starting an early migration.
- Sources
Pokémon TCG Online Sunset Information
The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online app will be removed from the App Store, Google Play, and Pokemon.com shortly prior to the launch of Pokémon TCG Live, which will be coming soon to Trainers arou...support.pokemon.comPokémon Trading Card Game Live
Everything you need to know about the newest way to experience, play, and enjoy the Pokémon Trading Card Game.tcg.pokemon.com