When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down public activities and places, Niantic was in a challenging position. As a social game, it had to make changes to systems inPokemon GOto keep players in the game by offering extra rewards, and adjusted gameplay functions to serve players that were stuck at home. Two years later, with the world out of the brunt of the unknowns the pandemic caused and re-opened thanks to acceptable vaccination rates and treatments,Niantic has begun rolling back some early pandemic era features. The latest step in that return to normal will see the departure of Remote Raid Passes from the 1 PokeCoin Event Box.
The Remote Raid Pass leaves the 1 PokeCoin Event Box on May 23rd and will be replaced by a random rotation of rare items. It has been presumed that these items could be Lucky Eggs, Poffins, Silver Pinap Berries, or other hard to come by items inPokemon GO.
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A Remote Raid Pass was offered weekly in the 1 PokeCoin Event Box so that players could have at least one opportunity per week to get a discounted pass along with other items. If players wanted any more, they would have to buy one from the shop for 100 coins or 250 coins for 3 passes. With players cut off from battling gyms, they could not leave Pokemon to defend and get the collect 50 coins per day reward when they returned. The pandemic also caused financial strain on most people, and so they were forgoing buying coins from the shop for more important things. The 1 PokeCoin Event Box helped alleviate that and if players went weeks without doing a raid, could stockpile up to 3 Remote Raid Passes to use for the biggerLegendary and Mega Evolution raidsand raid hour marathons.
Even though the decision to remove Remote Rate Passes from the 1 PokeCoin Event Box is controversial, it was always intended to bea temporary feature from Niantic. Nevertheless, the pass being in that box can be seen as an accessibility option for players that will want the rarer Pokemon for Pokedex entries and won’t be shiny hunting or looking for favorable IVs. There is also the future likelihood that the prices for the single Remote Raid Pass and the 3-pack Bundle will go up.
Though intended as a temporary feature, the removal of the Remote Raid Pass from the 1 PokeCoin Event Box is seen as another way Niantic has been upping the monetization of items inPokemon GO. The addition of new Pokemon,various costumed forms of existing Pokemon, and the subsequent need for more storage are being seen as a new cog in the monetization wheel for the developer. Though it listens to feedback from the community, Niantic stands mostly firm on its additional purchases philosophy.
Pokemon GOis now available for Android and iOS devices.
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