Hi Niantic.
We aren’t sure what is going on lately, but we’ve noticed since the Season of Light began that the special boxes in the shop are well, pretty dire to say the least. Arguably there have been some terrible boxes throughout the whole of 2022, but the last few weeks have really hit a new low in how bad they are.
We thought the September boxes were bad, until we saw the Psychic Spectacular boxes, and now the Test Your Mettle boxes, each seeming more expensive, for smaller amounts of premium items, or in weird bundles that just don’t make sense.
The September boxes marked a big change in the way boxes are normally organised. Gone are the popular ‘Adventure Box’ that focused on incubators, the ‘Raid Box’ with premium raid passes, and the other box that was usually a mixture, and instead we get a Training, Great, and Ultra box taking their place. The prices felt steeper, with 1900 coins for the most expensive box, and the contents a little lacking. Of the September boxes, only the Training Box felt worthwhile, one coin cheaper for 3 remote raid passes, with the bonus of an incubator thrown in. At least one of them was worthwhile.
But then the Psychic Spectacular boxes were… a choice.
So. Many. Balls. Why were they so filled with balls? They could be nifty for a super rural player who is low on items, but gosh they were costly too!! 1010 coins for 100 Great Balls, 25 Ultra Balls, 5 Incense and 2 Lucky Eggs is a LOT of coins. Ouch! There were a lot of items in these boxes that felt like they weren’t worthwhile. 1010 coins is just over 20 days of getting your full allotment of ‘free’ coins from gym defending, or over £10 (or your local equivalent) of actual cash money.
While the contents of the Test Your Mettle box are better, the prices are astronomical when compared to some of the older boxes, even ones from earlier this year. A previous Adventure Box contained 18 Super Incubators and 2 regular incubators for 1480 coins, whereas the Ultra Box for this event has 10 Super Incubators and 5 regular incubators for a whopping 2299 coins. While the Adventure Box hatched you 60 eggs, at a quicker speed due to the higher amount of Super Incubators, the new Ultra Box is 45 eggs, mostly in regular Incubators, for 819 coins more. So less hatching, more walking, and 819 more coins. What gives?
Just look at the stark difference in those boxes! Breaking the 2000 coin ceiling is a big deal, just seeing the cost be over 2000 coins will put a lot of players off. But even more so when they cast their minds back to the good old days of the Adventure Box!
We don’t really understand the choices that have been made with these boxes lately, especially with events like Roggenrola Community Day coming up which has quarter hatch distance as a bonus. Many trainers will be put off by the steep price tag and stick to the incubators they have, rather than fork out 2299 coins for such a disappointing box. Don’t you want our money Niantic? You’d make a lot more sales with the regular Adventure Box!
While Adventure Boxes have varied in their generousness over time, with some having more incubators, and others having less, none have been as outrageously expensive as the current Ultra Box.
It feels like we are being pushed to spend coins on boxes that aren’t worthwhile, and many of us have a simple solution for that. We just won’t buy them. We’ve seen people calling for boycotts of the boxes on social media, and asking people to show you how we feel with our wallets. Some may feel like these boxes are still an overall saving, which is true, but when compared to the older boxes, they feel like a rip off. Personally I usually buy an Adventure Box maybe once a month, I like to walk, and I like to know I’m hatching while I’m doing it. I haven’t bought a box in ages now, other than for the Training Box when I’ve needed remote raid passes.
Communication here would help. Why the sudden change? Is the Adventure Box going to make a sudden comeback on Community Day itself? Why have costs gone up so drastically? We don’t know if you’ve heard but many parts of the world are struggling with cost of living crisis, so these new boxes are not only unaffordable, but almost a little offensive.
Many of us work hard to treat ourselves in Pokémon GO, putting aside a little money, or saving up our hard earned free gym defending coins to buy these boxes, but why bother when they are so bad compared to their previous iterations? What gives Niantic? Help us out here!
