Pokemon Gohas been mired in controversy ever since itincreased the price of remote raid passesin March, earlier this year. The idea was to encourage players to go outside more. Instead, many protested by uninstalling. Jump ahead six months to today and Niantic has increased the price of Pokemon Go’s currency as a whole.
As reported byEurogamer, it used to cost 79p for 100 PokéCoins, which is enough for a normal raid pass or 20 Poké Balls. That price has gone up by 20p. In the UK, it used to cost less to buy 100 PokéCoins several times as opposed to getting the larger, more expensive bundles, but this is no longer the case.
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Elsewhere, the hike has been more significant. In Canada, 100 PokéCoins shot up from 99c to CA$1.39. In Australia and New Zealand, the bundle now costs AU$1.59 and NZ$1.69 respectively. Interestingly, for countries like Brazil and Thailand, the bundle has actually gotten cheaper. The changes, according to Niantic, are “due to real-world currency fluctuations and exchange rates”, but they’re also arriving right before the annual Halloween event.
Niantic hasn’t announced the price change on any of its official social channels, leaving many to discover the hike of their own accord. YouTuber Zyonik is one such player, sharing the change with their Twitter audience of over 28,000.
“You would expect them to warn us about shit like this maybe a week or month in advance,” @JorianneFM replied.
“Ridiculous, was already WAY over priced,” @BookBarSports said.
A side-effect of the price increase is that the more expensive remote raid passes now cost even more, as they are bought with coins. In the UK, for instance, a single remote raid pass is 195 PokéCoins, which is now equivalent to nearly £2. If you were to buy three remote raid passes in a bundle, it would cost you £4.99.
Many have voiced their frustration on Twitter and Reddit, urging other players to swear off microtransactions in protest. This is something we’ve seen happen time and time again with the Pokemon Go fanbase as Niantic continues to roll out controversial changes.
Our own Features Editor Ben Sledge went as far as to say that"Pokemon Go is in its death throes"earlier this year as it continued to give into more egregious mobile practices. With another price hike, even more players are beginning to agree with that sentiment.
