The game’s monetization practices are increasingly putting off fans of Pokémon Go, who find that the best features are inaccessible to some of them.
Pokémon Go is a free game, and it is entirely possible to have fun without ever spending a cent. Transferring your Pokémon from Pokémon Go to Pokémon Home, and then to another game, may incur some expense if you want to do it in bulk, but it won’t. is needed only every few years, if ever.
Niantic monetizes Pokémon Go in various ways, including hiding Pokémon items and expansions behind paywalls, item boxes that are often not worth the money, cosmetics, Remote Raid Passes, Incubators, Incense, Lucky Eggs, restoration items, and tickets for special event rewards.
Study tickets have become a particular point of contention among fans due to their ubiquity and the fact that they offer much more than free play.
Pokémon Go players believe the game adopted a fake subscription model for the best content
A user on The Silph Road Reddit created a thread asking fans if they feel the game has adopted a fake subscription model, where all the best content is hidden behind paywalls. Other users quickly responded with their own complaints about Pokémon Go monetization.
Does it feel like the game has moved to a faux-subscription model? byu/Quirky_Deer_690 inTheSilphRoad
“It’s not just an impression. This is becoming more and more true since the nerf to remote raids last year. Sad to see this,” one user wrote, while another said, “They’re just trying to squeeze money out of people too invested in the game to abandon it.»
The cost of Pokémon Go is particularly high for people in certain regions: “The funny thing is,”one user wrote, “90% of these tickets are poor value and don’t get you anything but wouldn’t have already gotten by playing a decent amount, in a good region.»
“It’s players who have obligations or live in rural areas that these short events and tickets target. That and the occasional idiot who buys every ticket anyway.»
“Yes, Niantic is that desperate since their stupid decision with Ranged Raid Passes and is now throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks,” one user wrote, blaming the changes to Ranged Raid Passes, a recurring theme throughout the discussion.
Ultimately, Pokémon Go must generate revenue to survive, and that means some level of monetization. The question is whether Niantic will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs or whether the fan base is trapped in a sunk cost illusion that will continue to fuel bad decisions.
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