The title says it all. This is one of the worst boxes Niantic has ever given. I’m not even sure myself why Incubators are the focus of the boxes. Below is a quick analysis on each box and the savings you get.
| Special | Great | Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Incubator | 4 | 10 | |
| Incubator | 2 | ||
| Lucky Egg | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| Star Piece | 4 | 6 | |
| Lure Module | 4 | 9 | |
| Premium Raid Pass | 6 | ||
| Price | 480 | 780 | 1480 |
| Box value analysis | |||
| Coin Saved per Box (Incubator only) | n/a | 20 | 520 |
| Coin Saved per Box | 270 | 1035 | 2447.5 |
| Percent Discount (Incubator only) | n/a | 2.50% | 26.00% |
| Percent Discount | 36.00% | 57.25% | 62.32% |
Before the verdict, I would like to reiterate that I chose to not use the standard price of Lucky Egg, Lure Module, and Star Piece, since the comparison should be more on the price of buying in bulk. It would be misleading to compare it to the base price which is in principle designed to be more expensive than bulk to encourage consumers to spend more. That being said, I used the bulk price of these items when buying an 8-item bundle.
Quick links to related guides:
Our Verdict
Just to show you how bad these boxes are, let’s compare these boxes to the Safari Zone Boxes, another set of boxes that are also primarily selling Incubators.
| Special | Great | Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incubator/Super Incubator in this event | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Incubator/Super Incubator in Safari Boxes | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| Lucky Egg in this event | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| Lucky Egg in Safari Boxes | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| Price | 480 | 780 | 1480 |
| Box value analysis | |||
| Coin Saved per Box in this event | 270 | 1035 | 2447.5 |
| Coin Saved per Box in Safari Boxes | 470 | 1270 | 3020 |
| Percent Discount in this event | 36.00% | 57.25% | 62.32% |
| Percent Discount in Safari Boxes | 49.47% | 61.95% | 67.11% |
The Safari Zone Boxes not only save more overall, it also gives you more Incubators. It’s quite sad that Niantic took a step back on the sales. They were doing a great job until the Safari Zone Box Sales, which were at a time, have mixed responses especially since a significant number of players want Raid Passes in the Boxes rather than Incubators. Also, at that time, Alolan Eggs were just released so it was more acceptable for them to add Incubators in those boxes.
You can find that article here: Safari Zone Box Sale Analysis: The Best Time To Hatch Your Eggs
To be fair, when you include the Raid Passes rather than just Super Incubators when computing savings in the current Ultra Box, you’ll save 43.08%, but the problem is that most people only want one over the other. Rarely do players want both Super Incubators and Raid Passes, so it’s a bit of a hard sell for most players, more so for people who prefer Raid Passes.
Final thoughts
If you plan on buying PokeCoins and want to make the most of it, according to our analysis, Ultra Box has the best bang to your buck. Don’t even opt for Special Box if you just want Incubators. You’re better off buying them separately at the shop. Buy Great Box if you really are short on cash, and try to save for Ultra Box instead if you want the Super Incubators. On the other hand, if you just want Raid Passes, you should just buy them separately. Only buy Ultra Box if you want both Raid Pass and Super Incubators.
Remember when I said that this is shaping up to be a be the best summer of Pokemon GO? Yeah, well not for box sales. The last two was not really something people wanted so let’s hope Niantic gives us a better deal when Generation IV arrives. Also, where is the Pokemon Storage upgrade?!
For more Generation IV information head over here: Pokemon GO Generation IV Guides and Pokemon
