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Pokémon GOlaunched in 2016 to huge fanfare and rode on a wave of momentum, as players worldwide took advantage of the first-ever opportunity to catch their favorite Pokémon in real life. That successful start continued with big groups of players taking over many famous real-life locations. This included during the pandemic withevents such asPokémon GOFest 2020, where players continued to catch Pokémon without ever leaving their homes.
Despite this initial success and new features being added consistently since its launch,Pokémon GOis still a game full of problems. While it would never be able to sustain the initial player base, many have left with no plans to return, as several problems became the final straw for frustrated trainers. Nearly a decade after launch, can developer Niantic fix these mistakes to keep a hold ofPokémon GO’s dwindling players?
Allow All Players To Make The Most Of Remote Raids
Drop The Cost Of Remote Raid Passes
The initial addition ofraids inPokémon GOwas a huge change with a lot of promise. Following an incredible trailer, players were excited to see what raids would add. After initially providing entertainment for some, remote raid passes were added,allowing even more players to participate in raids regardless of location. This huge success allowed those in remote areas, or those without a large player pool, to still take part and capture the most powerful Pokémon on offer.
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However, following the end of the pandemic,Niantic rolled this back to plenty of anger from trainers.The game is now at a stage where3 remote raid passes cost 525in-game coins, over double what it cost previously. It is part of a push to limit how much players can use remote raids without putting money into the game.
Players can currently only use five remote raid passes per day.
This has been one of the biggest concerns for many players, especially those whorely on remote raids due to location or accessibility.It is a simple fix that can be made by lowering the cost of remote raids to previous levels and removing the daily cap, thus enabling all players access to one of the main areas of content.
Fixing Dynamax Battles
A Disappointing Introduction So Far
The introduction ofDynamax battles toPokémon GOhas been a big feature of 2024. Dynamax battles were brought over from the main series of games and were an obvious way to expand the tiring raids format. However, it was immediately met with criticism. Beyond the most basic one star battles, they were difficult, with the hardest requiring up to 40 players to complete, making it nearly impossible for most.
The max particle currency that is required to compete in them also received attention, due to it being an item bought from the store. This meant that if players wanted to do more than a handful a day, there was no option, but to spend real money.
While the difficulty of Dynamax Battles has been nerfed since launching, the system that should provide a new fun aspect for playersis still fraught with problems. Max particles are currently 150 coins in the store or 425 for three packs.
Anything beyond a three star battle still provides a level of difficulty that the majority of players can’t tackle even in groups.
The rewards of Dynamax Battles remain another problem. The ability to double your rewards was included from the start, but this costs a hefty amount of coins. A better solution to keep players participating in Dynamax Battles would be to simply increase the rewards in the first place. Dynamax Battles have the potential to be a huge asset toPokémon GO, but unless their purpose and rewards are improved, players will likely lose interest quickly.
Improving The Constant Stream Of Events
Better Content Is Required
Events are a key part ofPokémon GOand this year we saw the introduction ofThe Wild Area event,which was a success. However, too many of the nearly weekly events are just filler content. Without a surge of new players, it is unclear who these events are targeting. They offer little rewards for long-time trainers and often come with ticketed elements. Many of these simply do not offer anything new for players, and more often than not, are rehashes of previous events.
The in-person events and the big series online events remain the biggest attraction for players, with many happy to pay to play. However, these remain too infrequent and still have problems, which for paid events need to be fixed. While the earlyPokémon GOFest connection issues are a thing of the past, events remain hit or miss with their content and opportunities to play together.
Pokémon GOstill has a core base of players, even if its popularity is dwindling nearly ten years on from its launch. However, developers Niantic need to fix several major problems if it’s to keep trainers happy in 2025.
