The official Philippine portal for Pokemon.com launched last December 2017 and many people thought that this might be a stepping stone towards local event distributions and possible sanctioned tournaments in the future. However, this hypothesis is now on shaky grounds following last Friday's Heatran / Regigigas March 2018 Newsletter Distribution.
What is Pokemon Trainer Club?
A Pokemon Trainer Club account in Pokemon.com lets you utilize a variety of features such as the Pokemon Global Link, Pokemon Trading Card Game Online, Pokemon GO settings, and Play! Pokemon (only applicable to players who are willing to fly to other countries for officially sanctioned tournaments). Aside from serving as Pokemon's own form of social media site akin to Miiverse, it also sends out monthly Newsletters that showcase event information and promotional content for current and upcoming Pokemon games. Sometimes, it may even contain serial codes that you can redeem in Pokemon Trading Card Game Online or in the main games. For reference, the last main series serial code event that we got from it was the Kanto Bird Trio with Hidden Abilities distribution from the May 2016 Newsletter.
Pokemon Trainer Club members who registered their country under the Philippines received the March 2018 Newsletter but it was addressed for the European region instead. 3DS games are region-locked and so are serial codes. In addition, different regions may implement different distribution methods. We know that the Newsletter featured below is for the European region because it uses the PEGI rating system instead of the ESRB system and the distribution method is through the Nintendo Network without the need for serial codes.
Inspecting the Evidences
Here is a screenshot of the May 2016 Newsletter showing US serial codes for the Legendary Kanto Trio for comparison. It displayed ratings from the ESRB and minor details like events running in GameStop, a US retailer:
All promotional emails sent prior to the March 2018 Newsletter were for the North American region. Here's a list of more screenshots showing the Newsletters sent from May 2017 to February 2018. The previous emails were omitted to prevent clutter.
- Feb 2018 "Get the Legendary Dialga and Palkia in February" - 2/05/18, 7:18AM
- Jan 2018 "Solve the Mystery with Detective Pikachu" - 1/22/18, 6:23AM
- Dec 2017 "The Power of Necrozma Revealed" - 12/15/17, 4:07PM
- Oct 2017 "Spooky Pokemon Originally Discovered in Hoenn Arrive in Pokemon GO" - 10/27/17, 4:12PM
- Sep 2017 "Receive an exclusive Ash Pikachu" - 9/19/17, 4:21PM
- Aug 2017 "Mewtwo is Coming in Pokemon GO" - 8/15/17, 10:17PM
- Jul 2017 "Get Shiny Tapu Koko in Pokemon Sun and Pokémon Moon Today" - 7/20/17, 11:24PM
- Jun 2017 "A Major Pokemon GO Update Is On the Way" - 6/21/17, 6:32AM
- May 2017 "Magikarp Makes the Jump to Mobile" - 5/25/17, 7:26PM
- May 2016 "Get the Mythical Pokémon Darkrai in May" - 5/3/16, 6:27AM
Support's Response
This was immediately reported to Pokemon's Support Portal to clarify if this is a bug or an unannounced intended change. It did take us a few days before we reached a conclusion due to their unavailability during the weekends. Unfortunately, we only received the same answer before our ticket was ultimately closed. They have sadly ignored the fact that PH members have been receiving US Newsletters up to this point:
Their response was too vague to draw out a solid conclusion. We can at least assume that this is not an isolated case given that everyone who registered under the Philippines or any non-US country were the only ones who received the European Newsletter. Those who made accounts under the US got the correct Newsletter with the corresponding serial codes aside from a few who have yet to receive one (they can be sending emails in separate waves).
So, what now?
While others resorted to creating new US Pokemon Trainer Club accounts for potential future events, it is still worth mentioning that this is against their Terms of Use:
7. PLAYER TRAINER CLUB ACCOUNTS. In order to access some features of the Service, you will need to create a Pokémon Trainer Club account (“PTC Account”). If you elect to create a PTC Account (Pokemon.com/Signup), use a PTC Account to sign up for other portions of the Service (such as PTCGO, Play! Pokémon, or Pokémon Global Link), or authenticate your identity on 3rd party-operated services (such as Pokémon GO, TCGO forums, and Pokémon's customer service portal), you agree to:
(i) Provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself ("Profile Data").
(ii) Maintain and promptly update the Profile Data to keep it accurate.
(iii) Only maintain one PTC Account.
(iv) Never use another person's PTC Account.
(v) Bear full responsibility for the activity on your account and the security of your account credentials.
We have the right to suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service due your violation of the Terms, or if we determine in our sole discretion that suspension or termination is in the best interest of supporting a fair, wholesome and safe environment for users of the Service (including participants in Play! Pokémon Program, PTCGO or any other portion of the Service.)
Sadly, there is no change country feature currently available in the Pokemon Trainer Club profile settings page. Only Pokemon Support may have the ability to update this information if you give them a valid reason. Another option is to ask Pokemon GO players in the Philippines who registered their accounts under the US. Some of them exclusively play Pokemon GO so the codes for Pokemon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon will be left unused. One final possibility is if Maxsoft decides to act in behalf of affected Southeast Asian territories. However, their events are still inconsistent to rely on.
Some may consider the unannounced change to be unfair. Others may even say that it is to be expected since we are only piggy-backing on the US. We still hope that they'll consider our position in the future. What are your thoughts about this topic?
You can discuss this at our dedicated Pokémon Facebook group at Pinoy Pokémon Trainers or participate in our group chat through our Discord server.
