Pokemon Go's cheap Remote Raid Passes are disappearing

pokemon go Starting next week, players will have fewer opportunities to participate remotely in the game’s Raids (at least “free”). Developer Niantic announced Thursday that it plans to end weekly distribution of cheap Remote Raid Passes included in one-PokéCoin bundles for the past two years, as the company added the new gameplay feature to adapt. pokemon go to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

From May 23, pokemon goThe in-game store will no longer feature Remote Raid Passes in weekly one-PokéCoin Event Boxes, Niantic said in a post on the game’s official website. Instead, that cheap weekly box will contain “a varying array of items,” Niantic said.

In announcing the change, Niantic says it is “excited to play together again in person” and is working on ways to “support players struggling to reach Gyms” with “solutions such as tools for community leaders to organize local events.” organizing and faster approval for new gyms.”

The pokemon go The maker also says it will be adding new social features to its mobile game in the coming months. Those social features have been tested in a separate, self-contained app and accessible to select players of another Niantic game, Enter, since early May. With that social app, players can talk to each other and coordinate meetings directly through the app, which pokemon go players have mostly done this over the years through external services, such as Discord.

While Niantic’s promise to make it easier for players to coordinate gatherings and access new Gyms will likely help make removing cheap Remote Raid Passes less of a sting, the loss of another pandemic-era convenience will certainly help some. cause outrage. Players can still purchase Remote Raid Passes from the store, but they cost 100 PokéCoins for a single pass and 250 Coins for a three-pack. Players can earn up to 50 coins per day for free by holding Gyms, or pay real money for bundles of coins.

Polygon sent some questions to pokemon go live game director Michael Steranka on the changes, and our email Q&A is available below.

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Polygon: For players not using the external social features you want to add pokemon gocan you explain what you hope it will bring to current players?

Michael Steranka: Meeting other Trainers is an important part of the pokemon go experience, it is partly what makes pokemon go unlike almost any other game. We realize that for newer trainers, or even experienced trainers who have spent the last two years mostly looting from home, those skills and habits will need to be learned or relearned. What we’re working on is a set of social tools and features that make it easy for Trainers to see where other Trainers are playing and gathering and to let others know where they plan to fight or loot. So, on Community Day, say you’re traveling to a new city and want to meet local trainers. You can do that at a glance once these tools are ready. I should add that privacy protection is critical to us and all of these features are optional and can be fine-tuned so you can decide with whom and to what extent you want to share what.

What is the reason to get Remote Raid Passes from 1 PokéCoin event boxes? Are there other ways players can acquire them outside of the store?

Our goal is to bring the balance back to the fun of raiding together in person again. Sales and discounts are really powerful ways to tell Trainers what types of game loops to focus on at any given time. For example, if there is a hatch event going on, we can place Incubators. We want to use the 1 PokéCoin bundle to do just that, and use it to highlight other types of gameplay.

That’s why we’ve increased the rewards for coming together in person to tackle challenging raid encounters. This is part of our returns process pokemon go to that key experience.

This doesn’t mean that remote raiding will disappear as an option, as we recognize the convenience it brings to players. Our intention is to bring back the joy that can only be experienced in person, like when you caught your first Lugia in person with your friends at a gym.

Please note that with this change there are no other ways to receive Remote Raid Passes for free. However, our goal is to provide great value in the in-store offers for our events, and there’s a chance Remote Raid Passes will be included in those bundles in the future.

What kind of items should players expect from 1 PokéCoin event boxes in the future?

We plan to roll over several things, so it’s hard to say definitively at this point. That said, the rotating 1 PokéCoin bundle made its debut all the way back in 2020 and had many different permutations. Those earlier versions are good references for where the bundle is likely to go next.

Are there any other changes planned for raids, such as the return of EX Raids or ways to make them more convenient for players who may not be able to find people to join?

Absolutely, and the new Niantic social features I mentioned will play a big part here. I can’t reveal too much just yet, as the first details will be revealed during our Niantic Lightship event next week, but later this summer Trainers will have the tools to easily meet others for IRL raid battles and more.

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