Highlights

  • Pokemon GO players are disappointed with the upcoming paid event featuring Zarude that highlights an increasing pay-to-play trend in the game.
  • Microtransactions in Pokemon GO are still a hot topic, with players questioning the $7.99 price point for the Verdant Wonders Special Research event.
  • Despite controversy when it first launched, Pokemon GO remains popular with 9 million daily active players.

Pokemon GO players have expressed their disappointment with the game's upcoming Verdant Wonders Special Research event featuring the mythical Zarude. While most events, such as Weather Week in Pokemon GO that's happening just before Verdant Wonders, are regular instances that are free for all players to join, many have begun to notice that the game has been ramping up its pay-to-play side lately.

Pokemon GO, released back in 2016, remains fairly popular with franchise fans nearly eight years since its launch. Developer Niantic has taken many steps to improve the overall game experience, despite a somewhat controversial early stage, with the steady addition of most Pokemon across all generations. Today, Pokemon GO boasts around 9 million active players online every day, according to the latest stats from the beginning of 2024.

pokemon-go-castform-weather-week
Related
Pokemon GO: What to Expect From Weather Week and March 2024

Pokemon GO has several events planned for March 2024 that players should be excited about, including Weather Week, Community Day, Raid Days, and more.

After the announcement of the Verdant Wonders event, Pokemon GO players have already started sounding the alarms about yet another microtransaction just to participate. Players such as Redditor Foulmouth232 have taken to posting their frustrations on r/pokemongo, with many others disagreeing with the $7.99 price point of the event just to get Zarude, a Mythical Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This actually isn't the first time Pokemon GO has done a paid Zarude Special Research Event, with players complaining about the cost when it was first done in 2021.

Should Pokemon GO Scale Back Microtransactions?

Players have long complained about microtransactions in most modern games, but items and features in Pokemon GO remain popular purchases for many, with the latest data from the team showing that it's made around $225 million across the world in 2023 alone. This success may be due to reasonably priced common in-game items and currency, but players may not be as willing to pay for other things that cost more, such as remote raid passes and event tickets. Given the consistent success of Pokemon GO, many fans are left confused as to why Niantic would still choose to keep milking them for even more money.

Niantic and Nintendo are even set to make a lot of profit from the upcoming Pokemon GO Fest, this year's iteration of the annual fan celebration to be held in New York City; Sendai, Japan; and Madrid, Spain in May, June, and July respectively. Special event Pokemon will be the stars of the festival, with the legendary Marshadow from Generation 7 finally making its Pokemon GO debut. Fans can expect a lot of big news surrounding these major events this year, but as per usual, most of them will likely come with a price.