Monster Hunter Now community slam Niantic over “pay to win” Hunt-a-thons

The Monster Hunter Now community has called out Niantic over the “pay to win” Hunt-a-thons feature added in the December update.

Monster Hunter Now Hunt-a-thons are a new feature that enables players to take down multiple wyverns in succession. One of the biggest draws to Hunt-a-thons is the addition of exclusive monsters, like Zinogre, whose appearance will be boosted during the December update. 

However, there is a catch. Hunt-a-thons are only available every three hours, and players who wish to take part in more will need to purchase tickets from the in-game shop. This has led to the game’s community calling out Niantic, with some calling it a “pay to win” mechanic. 

Monster Hunter Now players slam Hunt-a-thons as “pay to win”

“I really liked reading the update till I read that [Hunt-a-thons are] not only time-gated events, but FOMO for the events,” said one player. “I suppose it’s only slightly worse than PoGo raids. No wait it is worse, it’s local only so just like shadow raids.”

Other Hunters were also keen to stress that the co-op nature of Hunt-a-thons just won’t work in a lot of areas, especially in more rural locations. “Don’t need to purchase a ticket if you can’t find anyone to play with in order to participate in a Hunt-a-thon,” joked one Hunter. 

Meanwhile, players also took to X to voice their concerns over locking certain monsters behind Hunt-a-thons. “Very poor choices in this update. Locking the most popular monster in the series behind a once a day raid mechanic unless you pay, forcing several monsters to simply just not exist for 66% of the year, like dawg what? The game’s cool and all but good lord,” said one commenter. 

The Monster Hunter Now community also voiced their concerns over Niantic implementing Hunt-a-thons in December, which for many is an extremely cold time of year. 

“I’m questioning the decision to introduce a mechanic based on in-person interaction IN DECEMBER,” wrote one player. “We only get a few hours of daylight and the last week we’ve had highs of -3° Celsius. The roads and paths are treacherous. Your game is based on the outdoors, tailor it correctly.”

It’s important to note, that Niantic is currently “considering other ways to make Hunt-a-thons even easier to play for those in areas where fewer people naturally gather.” This means we could see some changes to the feature in the future, but for now, it seems the community has some concerns regarding this new feature.