Pokémon Go will get monster trading, one-on-one battles

Enlarge / An image from an early Pokemon Go trailer that still doesn't reflect anything that's possible in the actual game...

For over a year now, dedicated Pokémon Go players have been asking for the ability to use their collected monsters more like they do in traditional Pokemon games, by trading and battling directly with other players directly. Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara confirmed to Bloomberg this week that those features were still being planned for the game.

“We’ve only accomplished 10 percent 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," the executive said.

This isn't the first time monster trading has been promised for the hit mobile game, which still had five million daily users as of its first anniversary in July. Those features were shown off in the game's very first trailers and mentioned in interviews around the game's launch last year. But developer Niantic has been mum on the issue in recent months, focusing instead on updates like Raid Battles and changes to gym functionality.