‘Pokemon Trading Card Game Online’: A Wild iPad Release Appears Tuesday


The journey to collect all of the Pokémon moves to the iPad on Tuesday. The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) Online will arrive Tuesday for Apple’s tablet.

Pokémon TCG Online is already available on the iOS App Store in Canada where it has steadily moved up the charts thanks to the free download with in-app purchases. Of course, it’s also been available as a browser-based game for the PC since 2011.

Like the PC version, iPad players will be able to use codes that come in the card packs purchased at retail stores and redeem them in the app to unlock cards and booster packs. They’ll still be able to download the app for free from iPad app store and collect cards without making a purchase.

“The iPad version of the Pokémon TCG Online makes it even easier for fans to pick up the game and begin playing immediately,” The Pokémon Company director of consumer marketing J.C. Smith said in a press release. “We want to provide players with various access points to play and enjoy the Pokémon TCG, whether it’s the traditional tabletop game, PC and Mac version, or the iPad and iPad Mini app.”

Pokemon Trading Card Game Online

The online trading card game market has grown into a huge business for tablets and the PC. SuperData Research estimates that it will grow into a $4.7 billion market for 2014 led by games like Hearthstone from Blizzard and Magic: The Gathering from Wizards of the Coast.

The research firm expects the marketing of Pokémon TCG Online to appeal to high-schoolers who can quickly spread the game via word of mouth among a large group of peer. “We’ve already seen what this crowd can do for titles like Flappy Bird and Make it Rain,” SuperData stated in its August report.

As kids generally have limited access to credit cards and experience greater obstacles when it comes to spending on smartphones and tablets, a carefully planned monetization strategy will be key. In a recent study among kid gamers we found that this audience will spend 51% more on a single or premium purchase, compared to in-game spending. Likely, the game will launch with a hybrid strategy, allowing people to upgrade and buy additional booster packs to beef up their deck.

Pokémon TCG Online currently generates roughly half a million in revenue for just the PC release alone. It should be interesting to see how this changes once it hits the iPad. There’s no word of an iPhone or Android device release yet.

Will you be throwing Pokémon into battle on the iPad? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via The Pokémon Company]

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