Pokemon Go boycott talks heat up as players slam “cash cow” price changes
NianticPokemon Go fans are outraged and appear committed to boycotting the mobile game again, in response to Niantic for raising the price of Raid Passes from 250 to 300 coins.
Pokemon Go won the hearts of people around the globe in 2016 as the phenomenon swept people up in nostalgia, and player-friendly changes, thus birthing a fantastic relationship.
Since then, though, the relationship between Niantic and Pokémon Go’s trainers has grown sour throughout the past couple of months over the Remote Pass changes and even removing specific game animations.
And it seems that the souring continues as Niantic raised the prices of Raid Passes from 250 to 300 coins and removed the Remote Passes from the one coin Event Boxes.
Niantic Pokemon Go price change sparks community protest
Posted to Reddit by user charlibeau, the player shared a tweet expressing their disapproval of the recent business decisions illustrated by Niantic.
Addressing Niantic’s decision to remove the Remote Raid passes from the one coin event box and increase the purchase of three Raid passes from 250 to 300 coins, the user defiantly states: “No thanks, I’m done.”
The Reddit post brought in 390 comments from the Pokemon Go community members and over 3,000 upvotes.
One person commented in support of charlibeau’s stance, saying: “I spent 100s and 100s for the same reason over the past two years, and CANNOT BELIEVE Niantic did that.”
“I would have thought they realized, ‘holy crap, these raid passes are making us a fortune,’ and instead, they killed it?” Honestly, Niantic has some of the most ridiculously un-talented and dumb leaders of any company I ever knew of. It’s not rocket science.”
Another person commented on the matter, offering an alternative to the mobile-based game: “Not sure if this comes off as inconsiderate or not, but have you considered just buying one of the Switch games?”
“A switch/switch lite can be a bit pricier, but if you had one, a copy of sword/shield or Legends Arceus would cost less than what you’ve spent on, Go, and you’d have access to all the shinies you could ask for (among other things that Go lacks or charges piecemeal for).”
Coming on the heels of the second planned “Pokemon NO Day” on May 30, 2022, players have grown increasingly frustrated with Niantic and its recent business decisions. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in the coming months.