Does the acquisition of Scopey spell the start of the end for Pokemon?

Pokemon Go is on a descending spiral from the pandemic. Before locking force everyone inside, there were flourishing communities of players from around the world. Nowadays, it seems that I have to fight to find a single person to loot with. I am not even a rural player, who generally has much worse than suburban or downtown people.

Since the distant raids have been reduced, the players of the players have dropped again. I speak anecdotally of my own community, of course, but I saw similar feelings resolved online around the world. I myself was a hardcore crusher, and now I play with casualness, really opening the application if I am abroad; To catch rare regional reproaches or anything in countries where the game is prohibited.

However, I connected to the house this week, while I try to check a bunch of old special research quests and I was forced to win a heart with my boyfriend 20 days in a row. After failing at the end of adolescence on several occasions, I finally finished the task. Briefly exalted that my time shouting at the frustrating door of the Eric Andre style was over, I noticed that the game had several changes. Changes that I didn’t like much.

Paid tickets and combat passes

Paid tickets are part of Pokemon for a long time, and I do not regret them. There is always a way to play each event for free, and hardcore players can splash money to get more bonuses or meetings. This is a free game, it must earn money.

However, I was first bored when you couldn’t buy an event allowance with parts. Parts are Pokemon Go premium currency, but can also be won by fighting in gymnasiums, or more precisely, keeping your Pokemon. It’s a lot of transplants to get your 50 pieces a day, and you should be rewarded for this by being able to buy premium tickets for any event you choose. Forcing players to pay with real cash abolishes any incitement to free players to continue to grind, dissuaring the commitment with the basic game loop of the game.

Worse, Unova Tour was the first Pokemon Go event to add a battle pass. Again, I am not against battle passes in principle, but when it is so expensive, it looks like the beginning of the end. We are talking about £ 15 here, for an event that lasts a week. Of course, paying this money instantly gives you a meeting with Victini, but it seems so much more predatory than the previous system, where a full timed search quest would only make you a Fiver.

The timed research included a story story, paths based on choice and interesting tasks to do in order to make your way. Remained research was often special research rather than timed research, which means that you could work at your own pace. I am not ashamed to say that I bought some of them, and I still work on the quests Jirachi and Master Ball. You cannot do this with these new remunerated research tasks.

Pokemon Go is now attacking Fomo, engages in predatory and operating practices to extract as much money as possible from its players’ base.

Scopely buys Pokemon at 3.5 billion dollars

Speaking of predator and exploitation … Niantic announced that it had sold its game division to Scopey, part of the Saudi investment fund. And let’s just say that the developer does not have the best history in healthy monetization.

Whether it’s paying advertisements or buying high -level items directly, Scopey games tend to prioritize the profit of pleasure. I can consider master balls easily available if you pay enough money, or even legendary included in the shop. Pokemon Go already turned into a payment game, but it could get worse quickly, quickly.

It looks like the start of the end for Pokemon Go, and my basic knot certainly does not help. So are there positive points to withdraw from the aggressive monetization of this sale?

The sale of Scopey could make a remote raids a more exciting perspective. I imagine that the company focused on profit would not have the same hikes as Niantic with regard to Pokemon Go’s mission to get the players out. Distance raid passes may no longer be limited to three per day. Of course, you will always have to buy them with money, but the removal of this limit could be the life buoy that rural players need to take over the game.

It doesn’t look good for Pokemon Go right now, but the important thing is to remember what makes this game good. Is it your maximum level 50 Rayquaza? No. Is it your Lucha Libre Pikachu? Also not. Is it the Shundo Kyogre that you had a few moments after complaining about never having found a shundo? Okay, maybe a little. But it’s great because of the memories that surround him. The group of friends I was going down with. Their incredulous reactions. Their jealousy.

The players make Pokemon go very well and we can continue to do it. Whoever has the game, whatever the monetization implemented, we can commit to our own conditions. We can train our own communities, we can be there for each other and have fun. This is how this game has worked since 2016, but it is more important than ever.