Where is The Pokemon NFT Game?

The Pokémon franchise has the makings to potentially lead to a market-breaking blockchain game. If so, why haven’t we seen a popular Pokemon game hit the market? Does Nintendo have any plans to have one in the future?

The latest addition to the highly successful Pokémon series, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, has recently been launched and has made many die-hard fans of the series buy it right away. This has left players of both web2 and web3 wondering, is there an actual web3 Pokemon game for players to try?

Pokemon is an iconic video game and anime series that features several unique creatures that players can collect, trade, and use in battles against other players that was developed by GameFreak and published by Nintendo. The game’s collection and item nature makes it a perfect fit for an NFT online game. By combining Pokémon’s huge user base and free features with web3, an official Pokémon game could lead to rapid mass adoption of GameFi.

So, is there currently a Pokemon NFT game? The answer is yes and no. As of now, there is currently no definitive Nintendo-sponsored Pokémon game. The Japanese video game company expressed its interest in crypto and NFT, citing that there could be potential for the space in the future. However, they have also said that they currently find it difficult to “give joy” in the room.

This means we could potentially see an official Pokemon NFT game eventually, but not in the near future. But this does not mean that this is going to stop a few copies of the concept or inspirations from bearing fruit.

There are currently many Pokémon-inspired games seeking to absorb the massive audience of the well-established series. A few famous people appear such as e.g Cryptomon and Axie Infinity.

Cryptomon contains live NFTs on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain where users can breed their creatures and participate in real-time lunar events. The project uses $KMON as in-game currency. Apart from training, breeding and fighting among the creatures their NFTs can also use their coins to provide liquidity to the community in a process called Staking.

Although not a direct inspiration from Pokémon, Axie Infinity brings the inspired cute creatures and battles in the game into the blockchain. Like the original Pokemon series, players can battle, sell, and even trade their axes, but since it’s on the blockchain, users do this primarily to make money.

However, not every copy is a well-designed game where developers have incorporated their personal twist on the genre. Since crypto has a gray area against copyright, direct copies of Pokémon’s copyrighted features and phrases exist. Taking advantage of the anonymity that comes with web3, these developers often trick fans into thinking they are legitimate Pokemon affiliates.

It is important to remember to properly verify the creators before directly believing them. Looking back at whether Nintendo should pursue an NFT version of Pokemon, there are also a couple of factors they should look for.

Although the franchise seems to be a perfect fit for an NFT-type economy, there can also be major drawbacks to the transition to web3. An important staple of the franchise’s tagline is to “catch them all”, but with the introduction of NFTs, this may prove to be downright impossible and may upset many fans of the original series.

For now, if Nintendo is set on expanding Pokemon to the web3, a safe bet would be to venture into Pokemon card NFTs. Not only could it serve as an additional source of revenue, but it could also serve as a testing ground to gauge fan reception to a move against GameFi.

Edmond is a passionate writer for video games, GameFi and Web3. He has worked for top GameFi companies and video game/crypto news sites.