Remote Trading Needs to Come to Pokemon GO ASAP

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niantic has moved more towards methods of play within Pokemon GO that cater towards individuals who are unable to leave their vicinity and enjoy the game away from what it was initially designed for; going outside and interacting with the world around you. Since the pandemic began, interactions with Pokestops and gyms have been expanded so that you can access them from further away, sponsor presents are being sent to players, new tasks are automatically added to players’ Field Research at the start of a new day, and Remote Raid Passes have allowed players to raid from the comfort of their own homes with any of their friends around the world. But what about remote trading?

Well, this has been an issue with Pokemon GO since the very beginning. Fans were begging for trades since the app initially became available on devices in July of 2016, and then they were finally given the ability to do so two years later in July of 2018. But unfortunately, that ability to trade was still locked down to the initial design; going outside and interacting with the world around you.

This has caused all kinds of issues in Pokemon GO, because friends who live in far away places can rarely-to-never interact and trade. When Lucky Trades became a thing in March of 2019, it made it even more frustrating for those who live in remote places and cannot connect with their friends. The luxury of such high level trading was subject to living in densely populated areas that clearly cater towards the game’s natural abilities, and with Lucky Friends guaranteeing a Lucky Pokemon to the traders, the desire for remote trading is even more important now than ever before.

So here we are in the second half of 2020, and Niantic has yet to hint towards remote trading in Pokemon GO. Why is this? As great as an addition as Remote Raid Passes have been for the wildly popular mobile game, fans have been demanding for better trading more than anything else since the birth of the application. I mean, online trading has been a staple in the main series for so long now that it makes Pokemon GO‘s efforts feel archaic.

As a fan of the game and someone who has been playing consistently since it came out, I have friends from literally all over the globe. I lived in Tokyo, Japan for over 10 years and made so many friends in my community. I have traveled to the Philippines, Thailand, and numerous other countries and gained friends from there, and I have also attended GO Fest and a couple Safaris over the years and added even more people from different places. I am currently maxed out at 200 friends, and I find myself deleting people I do not necessarily want to delete because I have no way of physically interacting with them.

As of this writing, I have 15 Lucky Friends that are impossible to meet. They are mostly in Japan, and the quarantined state of things prevents us from coming together and getting our guaranteed Lucky Trades. If Niantic would stop dodging this issue and allow for remote trading, interaction among Pokemon GO players would escalate to a level never seen before. It may not be the same interaction that the application was initially designed for, but it would open up new avenues and allow for the world of Pokemon GO to be more interconnected than ever before.

Thank you for stopping by Nintendo Link for all of your Pokemon GO-related news and needs. What do you think of the prospect of remote trading? Would that help you with some of your impossible to meet Lucky Friends? I know it would help me. Let us know in the comments below what you think of this subject! Happy gaming, everyone.