Pokemon GO’s buddy update is in full swing. If you haven’t picked a buddy, then you should probably hurry up and do so. However, this does raise a new question. Now that they have built some steam, what’s next? What’s the next big update Niantic will drop on us?

A card version of the game?

There is no real way to say for sure. But as far as large updates go, it seems we’re looking at trading and battling. Both will require players inhabit the same space. And both are more a bit more complicated than current aspects of the game. As of now, nothing needs specific consent from more than one player. You can take a gym by yourself if you want. But trading and (hopefully) battling will require both parties to give the go ahead. Both updates would require a good deal of work.

Another point to consider is which one would go over the best? That’s difficult to say. Players everywhere are excited about both. We all want to be able to trade our Pokemon to fill out our Pokedexes, but we also want to see what our Pokemon can do against others.

I predict battling will come out first. I suspect that Niantic thinks that adding in trading now could lose them some players. I could see them thinking that after making a handful of trades, players might consider their rosters complete and cash out. Then again, maybe not. We’ll find out eventually.