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As time goes on, it seems that free items in Pokemon GO are becoming a thing of the past as a way for Niantic to maximize profits. An increasing number of players are beginning to catch onto this trend as they lament the "good old days" of their favorite mobile geocaching experience based off of the Pokemon franchise.
One of the main topics of interest that has shown up within the community is the free Remote Raid Passes that Niantic began to distribute in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As many are aware, there have been a large number of changes made to the mobile game so that players could take part in events while staying safe at home.
As the world begins to open back up, these accessibility changes have slowly been removed, leaving many to question why Niantic would bother removing these features considering how highly the Pokemon GO Community thought of them. One of the changes players have focused on is the removal of the free Remote Raid Pass.
Reddit reacts to Pokemon GO's removal of the free Remote Raid Pass
Reddit user u/BallisticFrostbite recently posted on the Pokemon GO subreddit, expressing sadness at the removal of Niantic's free gift of Remote Raid Passes when they were distributed earlier this year. Remote Raid Passes were implemented into the mobile title as a way to let players challenge Raid Battles from anywhere as long as they received an invitation from a friend.
In the post, they later went on to detail that they cannot go outside to raid in person themselves due to complications. This once again brings up the topic of accessibility and how it can play a huge role in maintaining an active playerbase. Another user brought up the topic of the price of these items being increased.
Other users commented under the thread, sharing BallisticFrostbite's sentiment and stating that they wished Niantic either gave them out for free or left the store price untouched. This has led to a sharp decline in player interest for Remote Raid Battles, and, subsequently, the standard in-person Raid Battles in Pokemon GO.
Furthermore, these Remote Raid Passes assist players who do not live in densely-populated areas. Raid Spawns may not be very common for trainers who live in small towns. Fortunately, Remote Raid Passes gave them a way to contact their online friends in big cities to participate in any Raid they wish.
It is unlikely that Niantic will take any steps to fix these issues that the community has with Pokemon GO, given their recent action of deleting the solution of giving players these Remote Raid Passes for free. This leaves the game at a bit of a stalemate between Niantic and their playerbase, as many have given up on Raids entirely due to this issue.
The only thing left for players to do now is to wait for Niantic to take notice of the community's outcry. Unfortunately, given the price of microtransactions in certain countries rising, it is highly unlikely that this problem will ever be resolved. While it is unfortunate, players may just have to purchase the overpriced 3-pack.
