Pokemon Go players slam Niantic for “inconsistent and underwhelming” Showcase rewards

Pokemon Go players are calling out PokeStop Showcase rewards for their wildly inconsistent quality, ranging from useful to fairly common.

Last year, Niantic added a variety of new features to Pokemon Go, including PokeStop Showcases. These allow players to show off their catches and compete for rewards while making Pokemon sizes – especially XXS and XXL – matter even more.

However, PokeStop Showcases are not without their issues. As many players have pointed out, the rewards for winning or ranking in the top three can vary drastically from Showcase to Showcase.

This led one player on Reddit to ask “Why are showcase rewards so inconsistent and underwhelming?” As they share, “Sometimes you get second place and it gives you an incubator, and now for 2 first place rewards I get 9 ultra balls and a golden razz berry.”

Ultra Balls and Golden Razz Berries can be obtained from regular gameplay activities like spinning PokeStops and taking down Raid bosses. That makes them less valuable to some players, especially when compared to Incubators, which are much harder to obtain outside of the Pokemon Go Shop.

Plus, with limited Pokemon and item storage and expansions requiring PokeCoins, many players don’t have room for underwhelming rewards.

Others have shared their inconsistent Showcase rewards, with some getting Incubators or Super Incubators and others getting mostly Ultra Balls.

Some players tried to make sense of the rewards, with one observing that the length of Showcases seems to impact rewards and saying “for a 3 day showcase you’ll get better rewards than a 1 day showcase.” Based on that, the players getting Incubators likely participate in longer Showcases.

Regardless, it’s the inconsistency that’s really getting Pokemon Go players frustrated. Showcases have a lot of potential as sources for rare rewards, especially for rural players who are often left out and generally have a harder time with the game. However, the way things stand now, PokeStop Showcase rewards are so random that it’s not always possible to tell whether trying to win one is worth the effort.