NIANTIC'S GREED IS OUT OF CONTROL... Reviewing Pokémon GO's Worst Monetization Practices

Pokémon GO, a free-to-play mobile game, is just too expensive. For the past couple of years, Niantic has been pushing more and more monetization practices that are borderline reprehensible. In order to keep up with the FOMO elements that Niantic keeps throwing players’ way, they are almost always required to spend a considerable amount of money. But many will argue that Pokémon GO is not a game that requires you to spend any money, and to some degree that is true. But for the sake of this video essay, I wanted to explore every aspect of Pokémon GO’s monetization that has gotten more egregious over time. You might be surprised to find that this free-to-play game is incredibly expensive.
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#PokemonGO
Pokémon is Copyright Gamefreak, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company 2001-2016
All images and names owned and trademarked by Nintendo, Niantic, The Pokémon Company, and Gamefreak are property of their respective owners.
Pokémon Go is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. A part of the Pokémon franchise, the game is the result of a collaboration between Niantic, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. It uses the mobile device GPS to locate, capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, which appear as if they are in the player's real-world location. The game is free to play; it uses a freemium business model and supports in-app purchases for additional in-game items. The game launched with around 150 species of Pokémon, which had increased to around 500 by 2019.
Pokémon Go was released to mixed reviews; critics praised the concept, but criticized technical problems. It was one of the most used and profitable mobile apps in 2016, having been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide by the end of the year. It is credited with popularizing location-based and AR technology, promoting physical activity, and helping local businesses grow due to increased foot traffic. However, it attracted controversy for contributing to accidents and creating public nuisances. Various governments expressed concerns about security, and some countries regulate its use. By early 2019, the game had over a billion global downloads, grossing over $3 billion in revenue. The game also had over 147 million monthly active users as of May 2018.

[@PokeLoko562]

Ever since they lost money from remote raiding due to nerfing it themselves they are trying to figure out how to make all you pay for it

[@sigisoltau6073]

Solution. Revert remote raiding back to what is was before April. Easy.

[@TreFKennedy]

@@sigisoltau6073nailed it

[@therainbowdiamond9344]

Exactly!!!

[@birdsseeghosts]

@@sigisoltau6073literally, all it takes is a click of a button and they’re back to swimming in loads of cash.

[@itamarowak]

That change cured my addiction

[@Grimmy85]

Trust me, it's definitely got a lot more expensive for a free to play game. I stopped spending money monthly on coins about 1.5 yrs ago. I only buy go fest tickets once a year for the global event

[@lopoa126]

There isn't "energy" in this game that forces you to not play it. That is amazing for a free to play. Whales dominate those types of games so easily.

[@pokepizza]

I'd also like to point out that 2023 has been the worst year for Niantic's revenue. The numbers don't lie. What did they honestly expect when they increased the prices of remote raid passes? Of course, people are going to be upset, and that's going to drive them away from the game. Niantic did this to themselves. They only have themselves to blame.

[@Rose_J]

Agree, agree, agree! I can’t afford Pokémon Go, and FTP is really just existing within the game, watching everyone move around you. I try to exist somewhere in between, but it’s still too expensive. I’m more of a console player anyway, where it’s “one and done”, so I won’t be doing this much longer. Niantic doesn’t want customers who have to budget anyway.

[@heleezy]

I don't even go out to raid in person anymore because there's not enough people remoting for me to do so, literally the opposite of what niantic wanted.

[@CringeFest2000]

And an effect they should have been able to foresee. They expected people to just switch remote raiding for in-person raiding, which is honestly a deranged expectation to have.

[@simercury515]

Personally, I lost all illusion that Niantic could design monetization and game systems that TOGETHER could maintain the playerbase (I'm in suburban area that was not regularly turning Gyms everyday). I have a background in corporate finance and I got to the point where I was not only saying “$X for that, is pretty expense for PGo”, but also “I don’t see how monetizing Y in that way has a positive NET income return over the next 2-3 years” … ie skinning the sheep instead of sheering

[@grantbriscoe8764]

Agree. I am a bit surprised you didn't talk about the cost of gas to play the game in rural areas. You have to use expensive gas to get to a place where you can actually play these events that they are holding every week now.

[@lopoa126]

Such an entitled view. Almost as if more stuff happens in life in cities 🤣

[@sentientvoid666]

@lopoa126 You made an account just to comment on this video? Either you're an obsessed weirdo or a company plant....

[@NoName-pi3dx]

Playing since 7/10/2016. Literally haven't spent a penny outside of cash only events. THAT BEING SAID, they have been pushing the cash only tickets pretty darn hard. At least most of it tends to have reasonable "value".

[@kakaboo]

its impossible to grind coins in gyms if u live in certain countries or areas, but the only good thing is u can still get to raid 5 star with random strangers. but the issue is newer players need the coins for storage mainly, a lot of ppl i know started playing the game and enjoy it but very soon stop playing once they hit the limit of 300 pokemon, because its very frustrating to keep have to choose ur pokemon to transfer and then feel like not regretting it afterwards.

[@gregoryferko138]

I do not spend any real world money on this game. I do not travel for this game. I just save the cheap ass 50 coins a day and after a week ill get a remote raid in case a new legendary or one i dont have is available. I just hatch whatever egg i get with my incubator. It sucks but im not paying these crooks for a game that in the grand scheme of things is a waste of time. And you're right the more they screw with the community the less time they'll have a community.

[@TheFishingNomad]

7:04 More than triple. Anyway, they gave everyone a big middle finger when they limited remote raids and doubled the price of remote raid passes. They said "we don't want you doing thing anymore, but we know you want to do this and we still want your money so now pay us more to do this less".

[@MrJmar1980]

Don’t forget how they went from up to 800 free coins a week to only 350 And yes 800 was possible before the gym rework as it was up to 100 free coins every 21 hours back then

[@PHASES_STUDIO]

Gym's used to be so fun before the 50 coin cap. They were competitive

[@leedaero]

Costumed, XXL and of course shiny Pokemon are just another way to tempt you to buy more storage which they keep increasing.

[@mrmoose6619]

4:08 - You're being very charitable here with the term "questionable". I think most all of us can think of a better term which won't trigger KZbin's sensibilities...

[@hirofortis]

I have played less and less due to these very things. :(

[@LauraRossflyswatter]

Pikmin Bloom has also turned into a major money sink.

[@JasonBoyce]

I hit level 100 and quit that game, hoping to hit level 50 and quit pokemon go, but i might tap out at 48 or 49 with that whole "make x amount of trades" bs

[@SuperDriver99]

I agree. It's very sad that niantic is going this way 😢😢😢

[@greg3118]

It does feel like they're trying to fiscally compensate for their poor decisions. I didn't mind spending money when it felt like the game was in a good place and players were valued. I've gone from spending around $600 year to now just sometimes buying the tour ticket.

[@Miklo_1]

Thank you for this video. A lot of players are unaware as to what Niantic is doing. Content creators are afraid to tell the truth because they don’t want to appear as “negative”. But the truth is always better than deception no matter the backlash.

[@lopoa126]

Charging money for bonus content seems pretty normal. Nothing here is an amazing point.

[@Miklo_1]

@@lopoa126 Is doubling the price normal? They doubled the price of raid passes. They made the game boring for Free To Play players. And Pay To Win players have the advantage. So what’s the purpose of playing pokemon go if so many accounts are tainted.

[@InWondermentkd]

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[@Viking_Hammer99]

I agree, I did my first route yesterday to get the npc encounter he did not show up on my route , no I can't complete my task

[@mrmoose6619]

Try tapping on the Pokestop/Gym at the end of the route before you end it.

[@briano9397]

I never understand the complaints of the PoGO community, I played in 2016 like the rest of the world and only joined back like 6 months ago. So to me the game is fresh and ive never seen those kind of low prices so I guess it hits different. Seeing that 2018 box deal was crazy though, I finally get it

[@christopherdanley5702]

What low prices are you referring to?

[@near3d945]

I find it funny their trying to sell the Eggs-perdition access(montly pass) were to get anything except the exp you need a pokestop. While some player dont even have pokestops. If their going to roll out all those random features why not give players the ability to set up a camp or make a pokestop that is limited to 1. if there isnt any stop nearby, that only the player can see. Drop can even be worse than a normal stop. and you can set up 1 route on it without any wait time since the creator is the only one that can use it.

[@matthewjohnston1602]

I don’t even care if the games expensive, if what you pay for is ACTUALLY GOOD, but it’s not. I have put like 300$ in this game and have gotten almost nothing from it

[@grimorisX]

I just accidentally used 247 rare candy on a snuffel. Game lagged, and I miss clicked. I think I'm done now.

[@BluishGnome]

I’m glad to hear someone with clout in this community is speaking out on this subject. I’ve spent more money in Pokemon Go than any other F2P gacha game and while I get my daily fix of dopamine hits, the subpar content that they release is becoming glaringly obvious. More money for less quality will make me quit the game for good. The devs are getting lazy and greedy, which are two signs of the end times for a mobile game.

[@Silvery1313]

It just makes *no sense*. Niantic was making more money by charging players less in the past, so you know, let's just double down on the bad changes and die on that hill. Great business decision.

[@CountJinsulaOfficial]

Very true.

[@enso8289]

Egg hatching is the biggest scam in pogo that’s why I don’t buy incubators. How can you hatch the same Pokémon 5 times in a row out of pure random eggs?

[@emanuelfer456]

its not pure random eggs

[@isaac6777]

They haven't had any good remote raid pass deals in a couple weeks now too

[@CringeFest2000]

I agree with most of this, but I do think the citywide extra day add-on for Go Fest is the BEST thing that's happened in the game in 2023. I've been wanting that for a long time, and honestly, if someone is already spending hundreds of dollars on travel, adding an extra day of gameplay just makes the travel more value for money.

[@karolvenczel620]

I see problem with XL candy, still you can receive it for legendary pokemon from raids, from rare XL candy (raids and events) and from buddy walking. For most free to play players it is a project for several years, which is not ok. With 40 level cap and rare candy only it was doable to get max level pokemon, also it took time to get it. Now its so far that you have to make really long time planning, which is for a fun game nonsense. Also for future will they introduce XXL candy with 50 year leveling one pokemon? They should make rare XL candy more affordable. About the raids, the 5 remote raid limit doesnt make any sense. About the price, it is more premium to remote raid than go localy, so more expensive ticket does make sense, especialy when the lockdown is lifted long time ago. I enjoy irl raiding with community, remote raids are just extra raids, thats the reason why i play. I stopped playing when i didnt had anybody to play with. Single player pokemon games are more fun, this game does not make any sense without irl friends. I think bundles are ok, few days ago i bought a lot of premium passes for 62,5 coin each, thats somewhat fair for bulk buy. Just wait for good deal.

[@HARAJUKUDEVIL]

There’s literally gift boxes on the thing that have items that are literally not even worth spending coins on it’ll be 1k pokecoins for 15 revives and 10 max potions lmaoo what bs is that???

[@claywise1372]

Honestly, I’m right @ the brink of being completely done with Pogo for this reason exactly.. can’t keep up money wise. To get the most out of this game now you have to continually spend a good amount of money. I’d rather just play Scarlet & Violet & save money, time, & have more fun.

[@zekofusion]

I kinda stopped spending money on alot of remote raids (which does kinda suck cause I live a good while from any pokemon go hotspot) Esspically after I found out for myself that legendary raids (1/20 shiny odds) wasn’t a garuteed shiny on the 20th raid. During halloween this year it took me 44 raids just to get its shiny. I believe Novemeber I saved around hundreds of $$$ without buying remote raids.

[@TreFKennedy]

#RestoreTheRemoteRaidCommunity dope vid too Count

[@great-white-lynx825]

Yeah, precisely, that's why I tell people, just go free to play, yeah the game becomes a bit more grindier, but you can still get far, I'm a F2P player since launch and I'm level 43 with a lot of good pokemon and honestly, why should you give Niantic money, when what they give in return is updates filled with bugs and in multiple occasions, you purchase tickets to events and the events are a complete failure?

[@alekos2740]

Click on the nearst stop or gym at the end of the route!

[@aaronconklin5261]

They always put out more tickets ect at end of year

[@Lygre]

I totally agree with you.

[@dragon123tt9]

Wth is with the 40% increase in the box coin prices?? Or the 7000 price tag on some boxes that pop up, I’m never gonna have enough coins to buy those

[@bmxboyzac]

I think everything you said was right on

[@lanapearce9968]

Trying to build legendaries to level 50 is nearly impossible. Genesect for example should be build one and change form, but if you want each different drive Genesect, you have to build each individually!

[@dannymercier4362]

for now, each week i need to buy something in the shop to have fun and expend he experience, kind a sad( i mean egg incubator, raid pass or bundle)

[@antonyleitch2487]

At lest you don't get bombarded with adds and video you have to watch to play the game like outher free to play games

[@CountJinsulaOfficial]

True

[@greg_1492]

I live in NYC so this years go fest NYC with all the add-ons kind of pissed me off. As for the rest of the monetization, I only buy what I think is a good value for me. I used to love to play Jurassic World Alive and you literally have to pay thousands to stay completive in the PVP. I was getting hooked and starting to spend way to much money and not even leveling up in PVP. I had to walk away and delete the game. Even though Pokémon Go's monetization is getting to be a bit of an issue it's still a pleasure compared to JWA. Even if i bought everything Niantic offered it wouldn't break my bank account.

[@Clownism1]

im a free to play player. Its a grind but worth it, I dont get much Time with school but since my school is far I make money easily s I stock up raid and make the most of it. I just reached level 40 and in terms of shines I seem to get very lucky with them

[@justaguy1738]

Ever since level 50 was added I quit the master league because as a f2p it's literally impossible to get 296 xl candies for a legendary. Master league is pay to play. Now with the nerfed raids there's literally no way to get the pokemon powered up.

[@cherylsmith950]

I’m not doing any remote raids and I used to do several a day. I do not buy any of the research tickets. The rewards usually aren’t even close to worth it. I’ve been playing since it started in 2016. I started a group we named the Elites. Our group got together for every raiding event and had a little get together party on community days. We established our own chat group on our phones so we could communicate whenever anything came up, if someone had a question, if someone caught a special shiny, etc. Niantic has all but ruined all of that. Between Covid, remote raiding, then jerking remote raiding out of our financial reach, and now the constant ticket price gouging it’s just not fun anymore. I still open the game most days, but I’m about ready to find another hobby. That really sucks because I was totally submerged in the game. Since I can’t spend huge sums of money to play Pokémon, I’m sure Niantic couldn’t care less.

[@ArtimusDragon]

Honestly, I didn't mind spending money when I was a fan of Niantic. Since Niantic ruined the mood of the community, I stopped as of April. I still play, but only for free.

[@rom5457]

I got cancer im stuck in bed thé blocked my spoof app now I can't play Well done

[@DHJakon]

Post Covid, money spent on coins have decreased but money spent on travel have increased.

[@jamiecantwell7480]

Yup, 6.99 for a season pass for more eggs? Eww, 2.79 for a quest line, eww. I only buy big stuff like go fest and masterwork researchs. Big day events or massively challenging (permanent) field research. Stuff that is fun to do with the wife over a planed day or something I can work on for a long while and enjoy for ages. With a great little thematic and fun reward at the end. Like any of the master work research. I am STILL doing last years go fest masterwork research. I didn't have any buddy's.... But I like that, having something to do that I get to keep and working on whenever I want and DOESN'T go away even though you flipping paid money for it. The gaming industry has to stop that, I won't by paid timed research for this exact reason. If I pay for it, unless the severs shut down, I should be able to go and do it whenever I want. Paid TIMED research...total bullshit.

[@CreateYourHeaven]

Niantic ripping off the players, as usual. They can't even fix their game as it's broken in so many areas.

[@GBArkais]

For me the egg system got so bad I completely gave up on incubators outside of special events. The 3 hour "Hatch days" are terrible. 3 hours to hatch eggs with no distance bonuses is really crappy.

[@user-lm1pc5fo5b]

I think you are right

[@seanperez1773]

They need to keep the egg pools with 4 only during new shiny releases.

[@dephpeter5264]

You can still do free to play as many players do. I do not think there is any paid item that is an absolute must. For raid the only thing matters is getting enough people. Fore PVP, there is always a great league that is easy accessible. If you have to have lvl 50/ shinny / hundo lengendaries, you need to spend lots of money. And I believe there is always incentive to collect more rare pokemons. Even the worlds top full time players cannot get every shundo lengendaries, even they spend like 100k or more and several years of time. I think for players, it is really important to thing whether you enjoy the game. I think the most expensive thing of this game is the time rather than the tickets or the passes. Of course the game can be more free to play friendly. I think there is a better business model that just use this game to promote the pokemon IP. But I think the owners does not choose this direction.

[@gruszax7637]

+1 bro

[@Fluttershiez]

Niantic can definitely get a lot worse. I worry about 2024 and beyond when it comes to this game.

[@darkrai7597]

I worry this game will get stale eventually. The raid system is just terrible - all you do is tap the screen for a few minutes. Not only do you have to spend money to take full advantage of raids, the gameplay is terrible. The events get repetitive as well. I play all of them but most times, the spawns are bad and there's really nothing else to do other than catching Pokemon. And of course they try to get as much money as possible. They need to add something new to the game such as a storyline similar to the main games but Niantic is so uncreative and greedy.

[@panch0bill]

They’re so concerned with people “going outside and playing,” yet there are always remote raid bundle boxes in the shop….

[@TheLOTSChannel]

Definitely not paying for anymore big events. Paid $15 for a go fest and grinded nonstop for 6 hours to only get 2 shinys. Never again

[@ArJeSsTeR]

Yea I’m free to play only level 45 and I don’t even challenge the master league anymore

[@jeffallanday]

I agree with everything you said. The area that affected me a lot and probably most people was the increase of the remote raid pass. I understand the increase but I wish they would have went from 100 to 150 instead of 195. I mean just make it 200 why make it 5 less than 200. It just seems bad because they doubled the price for something that many people were buying every single day. My pogo community was hit hard after covid and I was happy I had the remote raid to get me by that period but the community has not come back even though covid is not an issue like it was. Raising the remote raid price did not bring people back.

[@lopoa126]

Niantic wants people to go outside and play. Remote raids are the opposite of that. They were largely introduced because of COVID. I'm surprised they aren't more.

[@erikaeriksson9840]

​@@lopoa126To go outside and play there has to be somewhere to go TO. In rural areas the gyms are few and far in between. My closest one is 7 kilometers away. And the temperature being -21 Celsius at the moment causes the mobile to shut off after about 15 minutes unless you take the car. If Niantic wants more players they have to make it easier on the Pokestop criteria, to be able to play in rural areas. Most of the stuff they think are acceptable as Pokestops don't exist outside cities.

[@changsterville]

It’s not worth spending money on a broken product.

[@mrmoose6619]

The tipping point for me actually came this time last year, if you are watching when this video debuted. Remember Keldeo and the Something Extraordinary research? $8 to encounter Keldeo (and yes, some other prizes, but Keldeo was the feature here and what I judged the value on). I didn't buy that ticket. I said at that time to myself, I could wait a year for it... especially since who knows how good mine would be. The memory of my first Hoopa was a 12/11/10 which I dubbed "Poopa" (and yes, I still have it, it's still called "Poopa"... I still wonder to this day how it got past Niantic's sensibilities) was fresh in my mind. We subsequently had the Hoopa event October 16, 2022 which would have been just before the Keldeo announcement. I had hoped that Keldeo would have been released to the general public when the other Swords of Justice came back to 5*s in November, with Keldeo being the first 5* of December. A year of exclusivity for a ticket 5* Raid worthy mon is fair. Well, I'm still waiting for Keldeo to come out... and unless you bought the $8 ticket, so are you. I'm not going to hold my breath for Keldeo's general debut until Unova Tour in 2025.

[@bestsqued]

Pikmin Bloom may be from Niantic but I will continue playing it because I get to walk with my goofy little guys

[@joeyduron9458]

Been a free to play player on and off since 2016 and just started playing seriously since May of 2023. I have easily spent thousands in the last 8 months alone and will likely stop playing after the new year due to how unsustainable it is to play this game and be competitive in the meta. Clash of clans is a game I’ve been playing since before 2016 and have spent very little money on and requires very little money to enjoy…

[@yosuhiro3434]

I spent almost £250 in single month of primals.... Remote raid too expensive. I live in a rural place that doesn't have a massive community on game. I saw the bill and in over 3 months I have spend £10 cause fk that. Bought egg hatching swing machine 😂 incubator too expensive

[@darkrai7597]

I've been playing for 9 months and I've never spent money on the game! The 50 daily coin limit is annoying but it is what it is. Sure I miss out on raids and probably will never get even one hundo legendary but this is a free to play game and I will not spend on it.

[@christopherdanley5702]

we used to get 3 remote raid passes for 300 coins. now 1 cost 195 and theres a 5 remote raid a day cap now.

[@darkrai7597]

@@christopherdanley5702 I only use my coins on item and Pokémon storage but at those prices, I would be more willing to buy them.

[@HeycheckAvailability]

I'm getting sick of this game due to the huge amounts of players with multiple accounts hoarding gyms to get coins. I don't spend on this game so occupyong the gyms is the only way I can grind for coins.

[@MonStarGuy]

My favorite part is that they monetized season rewards that were free last season, but now cost $5/mo

[@greygoose82t.16]

More money grabbing themes with each event. In-person shadow raids, mythicals, low low stat and shiny rates, stardust cost to level up, crazy incubator prices, lame timed researches. It will only truly be a f2p game once we all stop caring about who's got the hundo, shiny, or lucky.

[@edmondYJ]

Good, Let em' lose revenue and learn the hardway.

[@420_10_Hour_Sounds]

I haven't spent a single penny since the remote pass nerf. I will never spend money on this game again.

[@ronaldthompson2328]

🎉

[@sean9608]

Never spent a dime on this game. Usually get 50 coins per day from gyms. Dont raid a ton except when raid pokemon apply for Master League and as a result have most of the master league meta pokemon powered up to level 50. It aint that hard to be F2P. Pokémon Go is actually awesome towards F2P players.

[@michaelhorton8345]

This game will die next year for sure.

[@wiipod_enjoyershrek]

i hope it almost dies, at least niantic will realise their mistakes, even if its too late, this might breathe life into pikmin bloom

[@piotrkedziora81]

you can always buy coins in other currencies that are 6 times or more cheaper than your currencey, like i m, 15k coins for 4 hours of my minimal wage job

[@arcadeguy781]

Remote raid pass prices need to drop significantly & the limit should either be removed or significantly increased

[@francisco2525]

Niantic is killing itself by 1000 small cuts, its events have become horrible, everything is recycled, and you spend money to raid and all you get is crap....I am losing the love for this game...the good thing is that I am not spending a lot of money on the game...so keep on going Niantic.

[@222chubbs]

IT wasn't that they wanted us to pay for some things that made me mad. It was the actual price. 10$ here and there is find but just like unlocking high level stuff in many mobile games these pixels aren't worth 100$ of dollars

[@jerseys89finest]

To buy a pokemon in GO and then buy a game and not be able to transfer that pokemon with out buying another 3rd game is ridiculous

[@ericstevens8138]

I don’t understand why people spent money in the first place how do you have any fun in a game when you bought it. Just my personal opinion, I couldn’t have fun at all spending money for the slightest edge.

[@picsl8ed867]

As a free to play RURAL player, I am pretty f****d lol I've been playing since 2016, and I'll be honest, I haven't had a single bit of fun playing this year. I also know I'm not alone, since all the small groups I used to see walking around during GoFest (and the better com days) are now gone. Everyone knows this game became a cash grab piece of crap, and I admit, I'm only still playing now because there is literally nothing else to do out here. If something more entertaining pops up that I can do during my walks, I am dropping Go in an instant. The saddest thing is, I would be willing to throw some cash to Niantic; I did in the early years of this game. But now it feels like I wouldn't be getting anything for it unless I sunk 100s into this garbage pile. No thanks.

[@DaniPitchford]

Im a new player.. And so surprised at how expensive it is.. I wont be playing for long, or very much at all. what a shame. Is a fun game n all, but is a rip off. The creators are too greedy... Who runs the world, Niantic... Booooooooo.....

[@10jose12liz]

Jesse n James were battling before??? These grunts aren’t it. Wouldn’t be bad to bring ‘em back

[@CountJinsulaOfficial]

Yup they were once in the game about two years ago. I wish they brought them back

[@ultraprimez]

F2P is still there but they ain't fixing what's broken and they just put a bandage over bandage with updates and new broken features. Thank God i buy only special community day tickets that are exclusive and new Pokemon are introduced in game. I mean who catches same thing again and again.

[@Godsbackhand7]

They are putting in all of this monetization and nonsense “features” just to avoid reverting back to the status quo of 2021 in terms of pricing and raid passes. They are getting nearly all of this negative attention because they are too stubborn to admit that they were wrong and restore raid pricing. Most people wouldn’t still be complaining about routes or party play if they could just raid, play and grind the way that they want to.

[@christopherdanley5702]

The issue with remote raids is that it was never supposed to be the main way to do raids. Covid changed that and people got comfortable and complacent. Niantic saw this and decided to change it. The game was always meant to be played while on the go, not at home.

[@gunkulator1]

@@christopherdanley5702 Regardless of what Niantic meant, they supported a large user base playing remotely for a couple of years. That's the player experience people adapted to and instead of understanding this, Niantic wants to force a change to make the game more difficult and much more costly. There's just no way this isn't going to piss people off.

[@christopherdanley5702]

@@gunkulator1 That was also due to the pandemic. Its well known that Pogo was and has always been intended to get people out the house. I can understand the frustration that people have because I was one of them, but I also understood that remote raiding wasnt gonna be the main way to get mons once everything went back to "normal" again. The only real gripe I have is that they changed the price. 5 remotes raids a day is fair, especially given the fact they were only put in the game due to the pandemic.

[@yuri5k]

I dont think pokemon go monetization is that bad. for 2nd/3rd day ticket - we asked for this for years. it massively increases value I get from fest ticket. same goes from raid lover bundle. egg hatching bundle is something I refuse to buy. for raid pricing, I mostly dont need to raid anything more to play for fun. being competitive in PoGO is joke anyway, as whole pvp is just joke

[@Polaroxide]

i mean i have spent $4k on this game

[@nerdtendo2300]

Three words! Ebay! Raid! Passes! 😂😂😂

[@technomad9071]

yeah its getting very lame

[@gellyzer0949]

Why should they stop tbh because people gonna pay regardless as sad as it is but it’s the truth if u really want to hit em where it hurts is that vote with your wallets but it’s Pokemon so we are doomed

[@MrFrank790201]

Imagne if they indraduce adds💀

[@arcadeguy781]

I think it's going to be a subscription service instead

[@Royvankalken023]

i am very mad on niantic

[@Christopher-ui8xe]

If you got 50 coins everyday from gyms you would have over 120,000 coins since the game came out. The only thing that bothered me was the mythical pokemon had to be bought

[@erikaeriksson9840]

Where I live there are no gyms. Not a single one. The closest one is 7 kilometers away and that's only one gym. When you put something into that gym they might be there for a week before getting knocked out. Once I had a Pokemon in the gym for 28 days straight and then of course only recieving 50 coins when it got knocked out. If I want to play I have to spend real money, mostly on remote raid passes. 🤷‍♀️

[@gunkulator1]

@@erikaeriksson9840 Gyms have been in the game since the beginning and if you still don't have one anywhere nearby by now, perhaps Pokemon Go is not the game for you.

[@Christopher-ui8xe]

you can have a second account to knock them out of the gym just use another phone or iPad. after a day they have no hp left also you can put weak ones to make it even easier@@erikaeriksson9840

[@Christopher-ui8xe]

but yea that sucks. I do live right next to a gym so for me its easy@@erikaeriksson9840

[@BootifulLife-oz5ik]

Niantic are to blame for their loss in profit, though the real losers are the players, getting now ripped off to get the same content as before. No wonder people are leaving and spending less in the game.

[@Areolainspecta]

People forget Niantic has investors that use a lot of money on pokemon go. Niantic has to make the hard decisions to increase prices so that they can make money for not only themselves but the investors as well. Its a double edge sword for them as whole as they get all the criticism of being greedy and not caring about the players when its a buisness and there in it to make money and not just for themselves.

[@CountJinsulaOfficial]

That doesn't make sense. They were making much higher revenue when they had better Monetization practices.

[@WholeGrain-rz6bi]

Well then, they made some pretty bad business decisions dumping a bunch of money into peridot instead of improving PoGo. . .

[@Miklo_1]

Pokemon Go is no longer free to play. Because those that buy pokemon have such a great advantage that the game becomes boring for those that don’t get the same chance to get the strongest pokemon. Why play if the game is geared for you to not have the best gameplay unless you give them your money.

[@piotrkedziora81]

imagine, if they would lower cost of coins, more players would buy coins, win-win, thx whales who buy coins whatever they cost