'Pokémon Go' will introduce trading and player vs. player battles

Two major features that have eluded Pokémon Go since its release were reconfirmed to be coming to the popular Pokémon-collecting app: trading and player vs. player battles.

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, told Bloomberg that Pokémon Go has only achieved 10% of what it's going to do, specifically mentioning player-to-player trading and player vs. player battles as part of the 90% to come.

"We’ve only accomplished 10% of what Pokémon and Niantic are trying to do, so going forward we will have to include fundamental Pokémon experiences such as Pokémon trading and peer-to-peer battles, and other possibilities," Ishihara told Bloomberg.

Both of these features have been staples of the Pokémon series since the first games came out for the Game Boy in the mid-'90s. For years, Pokémon players interacted with each other through the Game Boy link cable, trading Pokémon to fill out their Pokédexes and battling each other for glory.

These two features have had a huge impact on Pokémon's popularity, giving the series an added social factor that makes it more than just a monster-collecting, role-playing game.

Although Pokémon Go has gym battles and raids, there is currently no real-time interaction between players. The ability to battle and trade could help Pokémon Go feel like more of a social game than it is.

This is the second time trading and PvP battling has been mentioned; the first time was back in July 2016 just after the game came out. More than a year into the game's life, it seems much more likely considering the introduction of group raids and the tinkering with EX raids.

Ishihara also mentioned bringing more Pokémon of specific types to matching geographical areas.

"Depending on location, there are many Pokémon with different characteristics," he told Bloomberg, referring to the games. "So what do we do with those and the real world? One view is to have chilly Pokémon in a cold climate, but then that would also mean that people born on a tropical island won’t be able to catch them. So we are always thinking of how to find the right balance between game design, how our Pokémon should exist, and how players feel about their collections."

Ishihara mentioned how this already manifests itself in Pokémon Go with water-type Pokémon appearing more frequently near real-world bodies of water, but that could prove challenging and limiting with other environments.

"For example, if you have a setting for electric-type Pokémon (such as Pikachu) to appear at power plants, is that really a good idea for you to find one in such a location -- is it safe, and is it OK regionally?" he told Bloomberg.

At least trading and PvP battling don't pose any inherent risks.