Pokémon Go successfully pulled off its first global ticketed event over the weekend, but the jury is out among players as to whether it was entirely worth the asking price.
Eager Pokéfans who stumped up £7.99/$7.99 for the game’s Colossal Discovery day were treated to a bundle of in-game rewards – namely 10 raid passes (individually, each normally 79p) to use during the event, and early access to a new legendary creature via an exclusive questline.
As the first event of its type – and one which demanded you pay up using real-world money rather than in-game PokéCoins – its announcement was treated with scepticism by some who saw it as simply another way to monetise the game. And I’ve written before about how this event had to walk a fine line to reward those who paid while not permanently putting off those who want to continue playing the game for free.
So, did it do enough to justify its existence? I’d say yes, just about. But I’d also recommend several tweaks to the formula for when developer Niantic inevitably does it all again.
What worked?
The weekend’s featured Regirock, Regice and Registeel raids were plentiful and near-constant on all gyms during event hours – whether you had a ticket or not.
Raid difficulty was lowered, so three players could easily handle them (useful, for example, in communities where only some people had bought a ticket and wanted to do lots of them).
And while this legendary trio are not beloved by Pokémon Go fans, Niantic made them much more attractive by releasing their Shiny forms for the first time and adding Lock-On (a strong, TMable fast attack) to their moveset – a surprising and welcome buff which made all three meta-relevant within PVP.
The event’s questline smartly avoided prescribing any particular order to the raids you completed – letting you simply target whatever boss was nearby.
All in all, for those who did pay, it felt like Niantic wanted to ensure you were able to make use of the 10 passes you were given.
Finally, it’s worth noting the wider context of the event – the lore-appropriate release of Regigigas akin to how it is available in the main series games, and the fact it simply offered early access to the creature rather than locking it behind a paywall. For those who didn’t pony up, its release in EX Raids within a couple of weeks means there’s not long to wait to get it for free (similar to how Celebi/Jirachi were first released via Go Fests).
What didn’t work?
Going into the event there was still confusion as to what else you would get from its questline and how long it would take to complete. Early reports from players in New Zealand and Australia – first to hit the 11am local start time – revealed it was not a lengthy affair. I finished the questline and all my 10 raids within two hours – by about 1pm, six hours before the event ended. After that, there was little else to do.