Yesterday, Niantic detailed some of the big changes coming to Pokemon GO, specifically an update to Gyms that will introduce the new Raid mechanic. However, players had some burning questions about these plans, and now the studio has answered one crucial query about Pokecoins.

Pokecoins are the primary in-game currency used in Pokemon GO, used to make purchases at the Pokemart. Traditionally, players have earned Pokecoins for having one of their Pokemon defend a Gym, with their bonus being made available once every 24 hours via a cooldown timer situated in the store.

However, there was no reference to earning Pokecoins in the release Niantic distributed yesterday detailing the new Gym battle functionality. This led some players to believe that the currency would no longer be up for grabs in this matter, but the studio has since offered clarification on exactly how the changes would modify the system.

Now, Pokemon will earn Pokecoins equivalent to the length of time they spend defending a Gym before they are defeated. When they're returned to their owner, the currency will be added to the player's total automatically, rather than having to be collected manually from a separate screen.

This is a small, but rather crucial change, which will no doubt cause trainers to rethink some of the methodologies they have hashed out over the past year. For instance, now that the Pokecoin bonus is only handed out once the Pokemon is defeated, the player will have to decide between holding on to their spot in the Gym and having the extra funds to make purchases.

Niantic has high hopes that its first anniversary celebrations for Pokemon GO can take the game to new heights in terms of popularity. It remains to be seen whether the game will recapture the magic of last summer, but the new content and edits to existing mechanics that are being implemented certainly seem to be a step in the right direction.

Pokemon GO is available now for iOS and Android devices.

Source: Reddit