Are paid-for Pokemon Go special research story events fair & worth it?

Pokemon Go players are currently in the middle of the latest special research story event which gives you the Mythical Genesect. The event has unsurprisingly raised questions from trainers as to whether the paid-for event is fair, but also worth the money.

When a free-to-pay game such as Pokemon Go starts charging for elements of the game that have always been free – such as putting a particular Pokemon behind a pay-wall – some trainers will inevitably voice their displeasure.

Particular items such as Incenses and Incubators have always had a cost attached to them (mostly) but this was always accepted as it was the case when Pokemon Go released in 2016. Since then, it appears Niantic and co are adopting more of a pay-to-play approach.

Fair to put Pokemon behind a pay-wall?

Whether you think it’s fair to put Pokemon behind a real cost is opinion. Some will argue it’s greedy from the developers, others it’s a smart business move and some it’s a small cost that’s reasonable given the game is free in the first place.

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Whatever your opinion is on it, it should be noted that, technically, Genesect won’t be behind a pay-wall for long. Sure you have to pay the $7.99 if you want it now but it will be coming to EX Raids in April. This is the same as what happened with the first special research story event – Regigigas. The Colossal Pokemon was also added to EX Raids shortly after.

There’s also hope they will become even more available than the difficult to get invited to EX Raids. Mewtwo and Dexoys, two Pokemon that were also only found in EX Raids, have since been featured in five-star raids, suggesting Genesect and Regigigas could follow.

Are the tickets worth it?

The tickets to these events have so far cost $7.99 (£7.99) each. This is a pretty substantial cost just for a Pokemon.

However, these research events actually provide various rewards, too. So in effect, you’re not paying the money just for the Pokemon but several items that have a cost attached to them in the Pokemon Go Shop.

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The rewards which feature in the Pokemon Go Shop normally cost 1,570 PokeCoins alone – more than $13 worth. There are also the various rewards that don’t have a monetary value attached to them.

This shows the ticket clearly does provide value, even by the rewards alone. Fans rightly have their opinions on whether or not events such as these should be paid-for, but there should be little argument that the ticket does provide Pokemon Go trainers with good value.