We interrupt our regular schedule this week to address breaking news and bring “a quick word about Pokémon Go” that somehow ballooned out to 3,000 words. Sorry! I have a lot to say! The FGC resumes as normal next week with Blade Chimera. In the meanwhile…
As of this Wednesday, Scopely has bought Niantic’s gaming division, which includes Pokémon Go. I have… concerns.
Pokémon Go has been good to me. I have been playing the game since 2016, and, as an avid gamer, I can safely say there is nothing else like it. Yes, there have been similar “go” games, and, of course, Niantic themselves have put out their share of Pokémon Go-alikes, but nothing scratches quite the same itch. Pokémon Go is not a perfect game (there is a Wailord-sized gap between it and perfection), but it is an appropriately balanced amalgam of exercise, tactics, preparation, and socialization. And, yes, that socialization aspect has been important. Pokémon Go is a secret MMORPG, and since the advent of legendary raids and local trading within PoGo, there has always been a reason to have some friends nearby. So, yes, I can confirm I have played with friends and lovers for the last few years, and some of the most important relationships in my life have been adjacent to a game where you might nab a Wobbuffet. This has been more than my hobby for the last nearly nine years, Pokémon Go has been an entire section of my life. This is Debbie, she’s one of my work friends. This is Donna, she’s one of my PoGo friends.
And now a new company owns that part of my life.
I can speak with some authority how Pokémon Go has preyed on my wallet over the years. Since I have been there every step of the way with Niantic (apparently 12,500.3 km), I can relay the exact arc of monetization in Pokémon Go. In the beginning, there were coins, and coins could be used to purchase everything from Pokéballs to restorative potions. Coins could be earned in limited quantities by controlling gyms (the only source of “battling” in the early days), or by purchasing coins with real-world dollars and cents. Luckily, you barely needed coins in that epoch, as the only unique prizes in the shop were incubators for hatching eggs. You didn’t need to hatch every egg at once, did you? If not, there was practically zero reason to even address coins, and Pokémon Go was essentially free (if there were Pokéstops around. Sorry, rural players! This will never be your game!). Give your credit card a break, and catch those first 140 or so Pokémon to your heart’s content.
Oh no! I can hear your objections from here! “Goggle Bob, there were 151 Pokémon in the first generation! What do you mean ‘140 or so’?!” Well, gentle imaginary reader, Pokémon Go launched with the first, Kanto-based generation Pokémon, but with no legendary Pokémon to be found (and, uh, Ditto, but that was a whole other thing). A year after launch, the legendary birds premiered, and they could be won through raid battles. Raid battles could have up to twenty participants, but, at this point in everyone’s experience, you (more or less) needed at least six people to score a victory. By approximately the Spring of 2018, you could count on experienced locals that could fell a legendary with three or four players, but these legendary battles would continue to need “a group” to be successful. More importantly, though, participating in a raid required a raid pass, and you were only granted one free raid pass per 24 hours. Win or lose, raiding in any capacity required a raid pass, and 100 coins (roughly equivalent to a real world dollar) would be the cost of contributing in more than one raid per day. Legendaries were valuable Pokémon all on their own from the start, but PoGo introduced shiny legendaries shortly thereafter, and now there was a one-in-twenty chance of scoring an even better (different color) legendary. Raid all day and you might get the sacred 100% IV, shiny “shundo” legendary.
Now, to address the monkey in the room: was this gambling? Is Pokémon Go a gacha? Well, on one hand, the answer is “absolutely”. Right from the beginning, eggs were “random”, and you were encouraged to use coins to hatch as many eggs as possible. One of those eggs might be a Lapras! These were pretty clear pulls of the slot machine. Raids similarly launched with limited resources that could be expanded with coins, and the “shiny” or “wonderful” Pokémon that could be obtained there worked in nearly the same way. Hatch or raid a shiny: what’s the difference? But, in defense of PoGo’s honor, it is worth noting that even if you hatch or catch a lousy Pokémon, you are still accumulating experience, candy, and other rewards that ultimately will advance the strength of your digital trainer. If you catch 100 Groudons, and only the 100th is any good, you can still use all the candy from the previous 99 duds to power up that one champion. Unfortunately, if you did do all that inside of a week, you would have spent about $90…
From there, Pokémon Go started to get into the realm of “real” events. The same year we saw raids premiere, we had our first Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago. It was simultaneously fun, and such a disaster that it led to a class action lawsuit. People wanted their digital birds! 2018 went a lot more smoothly, and by 2019, Go Fest Chicago was starting to be joined by frequent global “Safari Zone” events that were remarkably similar in all but name. Go to a park in a major city, walk in a circle for a few hours, hopefully catch a Tropius or two. It is difficult to analyze the profitability of these happenings, as anyone involved in event planning knows that gathering staff, security, and permits to put on such a showcase quickly adds up to significant sums. But people paid to catch these virtual monsters, and, given the expansion of these events, they must have been profitable in some capacity.
Then 2020 happened. Whatever Pokémon Go had for global plans shuddered in the face of the global pandemic, and “get up and go” was replaced with “sit there and wait for a Team Rocket balloon to come to you”. Even basic events like Raid Days were temporarily retired. Why? Well, the whole “people congregating” facet was kind of a thing while we were all social-distancing for our lives. Niantic likely did not want headlines advertising an outbreak caused by people hunting Charmander wearing a funny hat. But something new did shake its way free of the ashes of society: Pokémon Global Go Fest. Pokémon Go Fest 2020 did not have one set location, but you could buy a ticket to see rare Pokémon wherever you were in the world. So the player got the benefit of catching unique Pokémon (with an increased shiny chance!), Niantic got the ticket profits without having to secure a venue, and absolutely nobody had to spend the weekend renting out a surprisingly sticky Airbnb across from the porno theatre (it was the only spot available!). Pokémon Go Fest 2021 was similarly virtual/anywhere, and by the time we made it to Pokémon Go Fest 2022, there were tickets for the in-person events (now in three different countries over three different weekends: catch ‘em all!) and a virtual, global event for everybody. The Global version even had a “finale” weekend that extended the event for some additional hours. Why, Niantic could just have all global events, all the time!
And then they did.
So raids and eggs are still a significant part of the Pokémon Go experience. But since the first “COVID” community day in April of 2020, you could spend a real-life dollar to participate in special research during the monthly community day. As of approximately 2022, “Ticketed Research” began to become standard, and seasonal events could be enhanced by purchasing a separate ticket for a couple of bucks. As of 2024, it became increasingly common for events to rotate weekly, with nearly every event having an accompanying paid ticket. And additional quarterly seasons would boast paid bonuses that would last months (but cost $15). In Summer of 2023, Niantic even launched the Pokémon Go Web Store, often granting players further advantages for making their purchases through the official web portal… and thus circumventing the monetary cuts of involving the Google or Apple stores. Get that Fortnite money, Niantic!
So where are we at with Pokémon Go and monetization in March of 2025? Well, you can certainly still pay zero dollars to play the game, but I can speak from experience (and maybe because someone maintains a secret “spare” account for helping with raids) that playing the game while spending exactly zero dollars does feel… lacking. Yes, you can participate in your daily raid or accomplish the free research, but there is a better way over there on the other side of that paywall. Do you know how many shiny Larvesta you could hatch if you just spent $40 on incubators with a ticket to reduce hatch distance? And never mind that one raid a day (and, as of Fall 2024, one dynamax battle) is a very slow way to gaining Pokémon power. Free Raid Day Events, three hours in a month where you can participate in five additional raids, makes a phenomenal difference in how much candy you have on hand to train your Rayquaza. Why, if you could do that every day, you would be the very best…
And, on a personal note about monetization, I want to state that I have bought more of these event tickets than not. I have purchased a ticket for every Community Day I could attend (sorry, Geodude, I missed you because I was out of the country), and I have procured most “event week” tickets, too. The way I see it, I have been playing this damn game in some capacity every day since Fall of 2019 (I know this because the game tracks and rewards you for such), and I feel confident tossing them a couple of bucks every other week or so. I paid actual cash money for Tekken’s Nina Williams in Death by Degrees, and have gotten approximately zero joy out of that. I can spare Niantic a couple of bucks for the game that has not only been fun, but encouraged exercise and socialization. My life would be radically different without Pokémon Go, and, in our capitalist society, I feel that is worth opening my wallet.
And now enter Scopely.
I cannot speak with authority about any games Scopely currently maintains, because I do not play any of their games. However, I can state plainly that I do not play any of their games because I tried a few, and they are garbage. Marvel Strike Force is behind about six other Marvel games that are currently available, and WWE Champions is similarly pointless in the face of other wrestling games through the years. Scrabble Go and Yahtzee with Buddies! are both boardgames you know and love in a form that drains the fun out of the experience. Stumble Guys is maybe the most blatant Fall Guys rip-off to be seriously advertised. And speaking of advertising, Monopoly Go! is the #1 app advertised on any given news site, and it is anti-fun standby Monopoly with ridiculous monetization schemes. Finally, a descendant of The Landlord’s Game is well and truly showcasing the horrors of capitalism. Just as Elizabeth Magie intended! Go down the line of Scopely titles, and you will find a variety of mobile titles that should be moderately enjoyable, but with payment schemes that can generously be described as predatory.
However, it is entirely possible Scopely won’t do much to change that experience. Pokémon Go makes money with its current model. Generously ignoring the same company tracing back to Google Maps, and obviously knowing damn well they can profit from map information, Niantic has publicly noted other PoGo revenue streams over the years. The company bragged about how its city events bring literally millions into local economies, and they are showcasing that fact because, inevitably, they are seeing a chunk of that in some capacity. And do not discount that Pokémon Go is an official product licensed by The Pokémon Company. There are big, wealthy companies that have an interest in Pokémon Go continuing to not only be successful, but universally accessible. Pokémon Go has been a part of the official Pokémon International Championships for the last few years. Nobody wants to see the latest Pokémon Switch 2 exhibition match opposite a Melmetal fight covered from top to bottom with AI-generated ads for robot bunnies. Scopely is not alone in this venture, and it is entirely possible PoGo will continue to be PoGo as we know it.
But…
In April of 2022, Elon Musk started the process of purchasing Twitter. The sale was forced on him in late October, and Musk took the reins of management shortly thereafter. My initial assessment was that Elon was not a good person™, but would not be any worse than the then-outgoing management. Back in the time when Musk was first toying with the idea of purchasing Twitter, there were administrative/security issues across the board, and the idea of “being harassed by a Nazi” was familiar to any user that wasn’t a CIS white male. Could Musk somehow make that existing problem any worse? And Twitter was vaguely profitable! There were all sorts of reasons to “stay the course” with Twitter, and not make sweeping changes. I was confident that, for good or ill, Twitter owned by Musk would be much the same.
And boy did that idea sink.
Likely everyone reading this knows how things have gone with X: The Everything App. Staff was cut down to the bone, the platform itself has had many crashes (including one just this week!), and the general user experience has cratered to depths that could only be reached with a Tesla mini-submarine. “New users” that offer all sorts of nudes in bios trawl the scattered remains of the social media wasteland, and anyone remaining that does not pay a monthly fee for a blue check is forced into a comment ghetto from which there is no escape. While many companies and news outlets have attempted to weather this storm, individual users have reacted to these changes like pilgrims fleeing Europe, and now whole social circles have voyaged to the New World of Bluesky (where only a small percentage of travelers died of dysentery). To say the least, the sale of Twitter changed the platform into something wholly different, and now it is practically unrecognizable.
And I liked old Twitter, dammit.
But what really bothers me is that I completely understand what happened here. Social media platforms, apps, websites, and basically 80% of what we think of as “modern technology” is and will continue to be a ticking time bomb. You can create the next Windows, Facebook, or even Twitter. But you know what you win for being such an unparalleled, innovative genius? The opportunity to maintain your invention forever. Due to an interconnected ecosystem of browsers, hardware manufacturers, and capricious management styles, the latest from any given company is beholden to all sorts of “update” factors that cannot be imagined during production. If Google Chrome decides to drop support for a programming language, or The Apple Store wants to now tack a 30% fee to your entire business model, you either must adapt or die. And adapting takes time! It takes money! And you will never know if you could be making more money if you modified your site to look different on the latest mobile device (now with a strikingly absurd resolution!), or if you are missing out by not jumping on the latest hardware. Or maybe that hardware fails, and every second you spent making that Vita game was wholly wasted! You just don’t know!
But there is one thing a developer can know: if you cash out, sell your baby, and walk away with a big payout, then you don’t have to be shackled by your product forever. You do not have to maintain a living invention that you sold. That is someone else’s problem now. And there is no need to worry about going on an international flight on New Year’s Day and turning your phone on at airport to find 34 voicemail messages related to how the latest Play Store update completely obliterated your app. Not that I am using that specific example for any particular reason. Technology as we see it in the 21st century is basically intellectual property hot potato, and nobody wants to be caught holding the rotten spud when the music stops.
But if a company pays billions for that tech, and they know they have to maintain said tech for an ongoing cost, you better believe they are going to bleed every last dollar out of their new acquisition. Nothing wrong with that, though, as that is capitalism in its purest form. A business does not buy something to make less money. Sure, a product or service may be purchased to simply increase clout or an IP portfolio, but there is a profit somewhere in the intentions. And even if a business is buying something just to be seen, why not toss a few more monetization venues in there? Why not fling ads into the comments? Why not open the door to a variety of advertisers that other companies deemed toxic? Why not prompt users to pay for emojis? And if any of these options are rejected by users, go ahead and add an hourly prompt that reminds ‘em what they are be missing, with a convenient “buy now” or “maybe later” button. You bought this service, tighten the vice to squeeze every last drop of it.
I’m just so tired of being squeezed.
I used to have a LiveJournal. LiveJournal is still there, I am not. I used to have a Facebook. Facebook is still there, I am not. I used to have a Twitter. Twitter is still there, I am not. I think of all these old sites like graveyards, filled with tombstones dedicated to “that one guy I used to talk about Seiken Densetsu with”. I wonder what he’s up to now, but we lost track of each other three social media platforms back. I have often played Pokémon Go, standing by some half-frozen lake, shivering with twenty like-minded people fighting a Gigantamax Blastoise, thinking “I’ll miss this when it’s gone.” But you know what? Nine years after its launch, I am confident that Pokémon Go isn’t going anywhere. Or, to be precise, when they shut down those servers, and the last virtual Pidgey vanishes from this world, I will not be there. There have been times that Pokémon Go has been as important to me as my own family, but I can and will drop it. And, while Scopely may not be the gun that fires a stamina meter that needs money to refill, or a screen illegibly loaded with ads, I do acknowledge that experience tells me that day is coming. I know that any service that continues: any website, app, or practically anything that brings me happiness and endures on modern devices, will one day be the prey of corporate vampires. There will be no blood left, it will lurch forward as the undead. And it will, in that tragic form, survive my joy of it.
Everything dies. Everything lives forever.
And, in the meanwhile, I’m going to catch that Mankey that just popped up. I need a good Annihilape for those raids…
