Pokemon TCG Live Gets Its First Beta This Month, Full Game Will Have No In-App Purchases

thegamer.com:

Pokemon TCG Live, the new digital adaptation set to replace the Pokemon Trading Card Game, is getting its first beta later this month, but only if you're in Canada. It's also seemingly dropping all in-game microtransactions.

TCG Online is a refreshed, updated version of Pokemon TCG Online, to bring it more in-line with modern competitors like Magic The Gathering Arena and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. Canadian players will be able to play on iOS, Android, PC and macOS devices for a limited time starting February 22.

RELATED: 5 Things We Want From Pokemon: Trading Card Game Live

Alongside being able to try out the game before anyone else, participants will also be able to play with the upcoming expansion, Sword & Shield: Brilliant Stars. You won't have to worry about losing access to your current TCG Online account either, as that will continue to be available throughout the beta, regardless of if you're playing with the same account on Live.

Interestingly, in the same press release confirming this beta, The Pokemon Company also announced that the game will be launching as a free-to-play title "with no in-app purchases". This is curious, as the website itself still states that you will be able to purchase booster packs in-game, and says you can "get new cards using in-game currency". If it is true that TCG Live is dropping all in-game microtransactions, that could give it a colossal advantage over other games like Arena and Master Duel, which both utilise them extensively (with some controversy)

Of course, Pokemon already allows you to redeem your physical booster packs on either TCG Online or TCG Live; the thought of it ditching microtransactions to push people to buy physical products isn't completely impossible. How it'll