Pokémon Go is finally getting trading, gifting and friends lists
Pokémon Go is finally giving players the ability to trade pocket monsters with their friends.
The feature will be added this summer, alongside the ability to create a friends list, developer Niantic confirmed today. Players have been waiting for trading to arrive for the past two years
Trading has been a big part of the Pokémon experience since the game’s earliest days on the Nintendo Game Boy. Even back then, players could link their consoles with a cable and swap the creatures that had caught with their friends.
Niantic promised a trading feature for Pokémon Go when the game made its debut in 2016. Now it’s finally happening.
Pokémon Go will get a big update this summer
“We wanted to make sure we got this right,” said Kirsten Koa, a Niantic software engineer who led development of the trading feature. “I hope we came up with something that’s natural and enjoyable.”
As part of the trading feature, Pokémon Go players will have the ability to add other users to their friends list using their trainer code. Friends lists will support 200 people initially, but will likely expand later on.
When you’re in close proximity with one of those friends, you’ll be able to trade creatures you’ve already caught. Trainers will earn the candy of the Pokémon received in trading, Niantic explains, and the bonus will increase if the traded Pokémon were caught in locations far apart from each other.
“The friendship level between players trading Pokémon will provide unique bonuses including stardust discounts,” Niantic adds. “Higher friendship levels between trainers will unlock the ‘special trades’ option, which includes the ability to trade certain Pokémon, such as regional Pokémon, legendary Pokémon, and shiny Pokémon.”
Friends can team for gym and raid battles
To increase your friend level with other trainers, you can team up for gym and raid battles, and exchange gifts — another feature coming this summer.
Players will be able to collect gifts from Pokéstops that they can then share with friends, and some items will only be available through trading, such as a new egg that houses an exclusive Alolan Pokémon.
These new features will start rolling out later this week, and will be a big focus of Niantic’s upcoming Pokémon Go summer tour, which kicks off in Dortmund, Germany, on June 30. Look out for the update in the App Store.