A twitter user Satuk Buğra Sarı recently shared a post showing the astronomical increase in price of Poké coins in Turkey.
Coin fees in Turkey have increased 1300%. The price of 100 coins, which was 2.99 TL, became 39.99 TL. Imagine that you’d pay 40$ for 100 coins. We have economic crisis in here. People barely buy food. It all happened because of unlegit player who buy coins from turkish stores. pic.twitter.com/iYil8blZ0y
— Satuk Buğra Sarı (@satukbs) April 24, 2024
A rise of 1300% is absolutely wild! The last price change in recent memory was the change to the 100 coin bundle which we reported on here, with the changes seeming to reflect local currency conversions. When these changes occurred it was noted that Brazil, a country that had notoriously suffered due to these local conversions, had been specially considered, with Alan Mandujano, Head of LATAM at Niantic gave the following statement:
“This initiative endorses the importance of Brazil for Niantic. We are adopting a local price list aligned with the national reality, making Pokécoins more accessible. We hope that, with this, our players can even more enjoy all types of experiences that Pokémon GO offers”
Now the issue with the Turkish Lira seems to be an intriguing one, all coin bundles have been impacted, and the price raise is tremendous. The pricing in the store now appears to reflect these so called ‘local conversions’, as the Turkish Lira is roughly 33 to 1$USD (though the Lira cost is 39.99, to the 1$USD). The local conversion price changes occurred in September 2023, so why has Turkey changed so drastically now?
It would appear that there are two potential reasons this has happened. The first is the local conversion price change that we have discussed previously. The other is that it may be a result of people using the Turkish store from outside of the Turkey in order to purchase cheaper coins. It seems that a certain subset of players have been using illicit methods to access other areas stores, when they are not based in that country. As a result, it seems that the in game prices have now been changed to more accurately reflect the US dollar price, rather than the economy in Turkey.
Other trainers based in Turkey have shared their issues with this, stating that essentially they are now paying the equivalent of $40 for 100 coins due to the inflation in Turkey. Others shared that in order to do their 5 remote raids per day it would cost roughly 12000 Turkish Lira, which is the same price as their monthly rent.
Looking at various reddit threads Turkey is not the only country that people have been using somewhat nefarious means to access cheaper coins through, and it concerns us that potentially other countries may be punished for what Western Pokémon GO players are doing in order to save money.
While these methods may not technically be against the games terms of service, it has impacted the local player base in a negative way, pricing many Turkish players out of the game. Whether or not this decision is solely because of the cheap coin purchases, or is also part of the process of local conversion, it needs addressing. Turkey are experiencing an issue other countries have seen addressed for them in the past (like Brazil), and we at GOHub hope we can draw attention to this massive price increase, and help it be resolved.
GOHub would also warn players against the so-called ‘cheap coin services’, that claim to be able to get you coins for your account for cheaper than your local prices. Giving anyone access to your account can lead to your account being taken over, or deleted, and it is not worth the risk.
