Pokémon Trading Card Game Live delayed to next year

Pokémon Trading Card Game Live is the long-awaited successor to the existing Pokémon TCG Online, and was announced earlier this year as entering open beta on PC in late 2021 (the game will also be available on mobile). Now the game's official account has announced that the 'global open beta' for desktop has been delayed until 2022.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Live will, when it's out, let you play online with folks across PC, Mac, Android and iOS, and uses the same digital codes to transfer physical card collections to the game as the existing TCG does. This new iteration will also feature online matchmaking and battle passes, an overhauled character customisation system, and various other quality of life improvements.

The delay has meant that some physical cards have already been shipping with Pokémon Trading Card Game Live branding: the developer says "Though Pokémon TCG Live is not available at this time, please know these cards are still redeemable in Pokémon TCG Online."

Pokémon is a bit of an odd one when it comes to PC: we don't get many 'official' products outside of the TCG, but the series is so beloved that modders don't let that stop them (though sometimes the lawyers do step in). This genius built the whole of Pokémon Red in Minecraft. When Pokémon Trading Card Game Live has a new release date we'll let you know.

Rich Stanton

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."