Pokemon GO launched pretty barebones, but it’s been getting updated routinely since with new features (such as the just added buddy system, that lets you walk around with one Pokemon of your choice). One of the many features that Pokemon GO is lacking is the ability to actually battle your friends with the Pokemon you catch- you can partake in asynchronous simplified gym battles, but real time battles of the kind that characterize the mainline series are nowhere to be found.
For a Pokemon game, not having battles of any kind doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But it does seem like battles are on the cards for the game at some point, at least. Speaking in an interview with TechCrunch, Niantic boss John Hanke said that battles in Pokemon GO are something that routinely come up in discussions within the company.
“I have 10 year old son – he’s my Pokemon expert, we play together – he wants to battle his friends in Pokemon GO,” he said. “Battling is something we talk a lot about. It’s probably something that will make its way onto our roadmap.”
I’d appreciate the addition of battling to the game- but more than even that, I would appreciate the addition of Pokemon trading, first. A Pokemon game that doesn’t let me trade is simply not a Pokemon game as far as I am concerned.