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‘Pokemon GO’ Update 0.57.4 Released, Promised Trading Feature May Kill The Game

By Erika Miranda
Published on: 20:10 PST, Mar 5, 2017

The Pokemon Go update 0.57.4 is already out but disappointed players are still waiting for the promised Pokemon Trading System that could possibly salvage what is left of the game’s fan base.

Ever since it was launched in June 2016, Pokemon Go shot up the most downloaded mobile game ladder and went down just as fast as Niantic now struggles to maintain the game’s fan base.

Since then, a lot of updates containing new features and a whole lot of bug fixes have been rolled out in patches like the Pokemon Go update 0.57.4 including improving the Tracking System, adding more incentives via the Bonus feature, and introducing new characters under the Pokemon Gen 2 category.

But even with all these, it seems like Niantic has yet to come across an update that could bring it back to its former glory. Now, Niantic is promising to deliver one of the most anticipated features in the game: the Trading feature.

According to Mobi Picker, the game will soon be having a Pokemon Trading feature as announced during the Game Developers Conference held in San Francisco, California.

Speaking at the GDC, Niantic Senior Product Manager Tatsuo Nomura said that Pokemon Go Trading will “allow players to trade Pokemon locally,” which also means online trading won’t be possible.

The outlet noted that while it is good to finally hear a Pokemon Go update that would allow trading, it is disappointing that the feature is geographically limited.

In fact, the downsides of this feature were highlighted in a report from Express UK, which revealed that the update will only favor those in highly urbanized areas and might risk “breaking game.”

“And while this will probably propel the game to new heights in the city, not much will change for rural players. This is due to how trading within the game will work, essentially allowing players to trade only with those in their proximity.”

Citing the same statement from Tatsuo Nomura at the GDC, Express UK believes that if this Pokemon Go update is not handled carefully, there will be a good chance that it would end the game for good.

“We’re still trying to come up with an answer [to trading] that makes sense so it doesn’t kill the game. If we fail this, we can easily kill the game.”

In the past, Pokemon Go players were hoping that the Trading System will give them the same feel as they had while watching the Japanese anime it is based on.

To make this happen, the game developers previously tried patenting systems where players could trade characters via transport hubs. Unfortunately, the idea of trading Pokemon between players using the same networks was ditched, even before the game was released in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Pokemon Go update 0.57.4 APK is already available for download. Mobi Picker says it supports all Android smart devices running on operating systems no older than the Android KitKat.

Many players had been hoping that this patch will include the Trading feature but apparently, Niantic decided to take their time in releasing an update that could make or break the game for good. According to the outlet, the Pokemon Go update 0.57.4 only contains bug fixes and performance enhancements.

So far, the most recent update introduced more than 80 additional Pokemon, most of which have been first spotted in the Johto region.

Other additions to the Pokedex include gender-specific variations of certain types of Pokemon as well as two new evolutions of the fan-favorite Eevee.

Do you think the upcoming Pokemon Go Trading feature will be able to save the game from utter annihilation? Share with us your thoughts in the comments section below and stay tuned for more news about this topic.

[Featured Image by Niantic Labs]

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