‘Pokémon Pocket’ faces server issues as new cards are launched

30 January, 2025

Gamer plays Pokémon Pocket on mobile phone.

Pokémon TCG Pocket launched its first major card expansion earlier today (January 30) but servers have struggled to keep up with demand.

Free-to-play mobile game Pokémon Pocket launched late last year with the Genetic Apex set of cards, split between three different packs – Charizard, Pikachu and Mewtwo. The Mythical Island expansion was then revealed in December, adding another 50 cards to the game.

Today, Pokémon Pocket’s Space-Time Smackdown expansion went live. Led by legendary ‘mon Dialga and Palkia, who were the mascots of 2006’s Diamond & Pearl games, the latest update adds more than 200 new cards to the game. However, players have struggled to access the game.

The update went live at 6am GMT and many players were unable to connect to the servers. 

“You’d think after the servers shit themselves for Mythical Island, they’d make some upgrades, but guess not,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “I like how it tells you to check your internet connection as if you’re the problem,” wrote another.

“I don’t know how they cannot temporarily increase server capacity when they know people are gonna be dumping millions day-1. Gotta nickel and dime the players in every way,” added another. “Can y’all stop opening packs so I can open my packs please and thanks,” said a third. 

It comes after Pokémon Pocket finally launched its underwhelming trading feature yesterday (January 29). The long-awaited feature has been criticised by fans for being needlessly complicated, with players needing several different currencies to trade their cards including Trade Stamina, a slowly-replenishing currency that mirrors the existing Wonder Pick mechanic, and Trade Tokens which are earned by destroying your duplicate cards.

Trading is also limited to friends and two-star cards can’t be swapped at all, meaning it’s still tough to complete your card collection.

In other news, Sony has announced that its PlayStation Plus service will be “shifting focus” to PS5 games after this year. “PS4 games will no longer be a key benefit and will only be occasionally offered.”

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