Pokémon Trading Card Game battles soon on iOS

Nintendo started off as a card producing company in 1889. In 2014, they’re breaking into new ground, but going back to basics.

VentureBeat reports a leaked image of The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online running on an iPad. When they asked The Pokémon Company if it was legitimate, their response was a quick confirmation:

Yes, we can confirm that is the Pokémon TCG Online iPad app, and it’s coming later this year.

While Nintendo has had a hardline against producing games for hardware that they don’t own (ever since a bad situation in the 1990s with Phillips, stemming from the CD-i), in recent years investors have urged them to take a look into the smartphone and tablet market. The Pokémon Company, fully owned by Nintendo, has released a Pokédex app for iOS, which was less of a game and more in-line with marketing a book or show.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online has been available for a number of years, and the iOS app seems to be a port of that program. Without any clear announcements, it’s safe to assume that the game would play the same, and not a stretch to assume that it’d be the same accounts and expansions as the browser-based title.

Opening the concept to the iPad demographic could definitely be a way to spur profits for the company, without outright producing a main title for the Apple ecosystem. It’s unknown at the time if the title would be playable on Android (or even other iOS devices).