Pokémon Go Fest events are a time for players to celebrate the mobile game, but not everyone enjoyed the 2022 virtual this past weekend. Many players reported they did not receive as many shiny Pokémon encounters as they had in previous years, accusing developer Niantic of lowering the overall odds. Niantic has responded to these comments but fails to address the exact rates players want to know.
The comments come from Pokémon Go game director Michael Steranka, who previously spoke with the Pokémon Go community several months ago regarding the backlash to changes to the Community Day.
“We understand that for some Trainers, the biggest way they judge the quality of a Pokémon Go event is how many shiny Pokémon they catch,” Steranka said. “We heard from trainers who shared how lucky they were this year in terms of shiny Pokémon caught, while others shared how their experience was the opposite. If shiny Pokémon are too prevalent, it degrades the game in the long term. But we’ve heard a lot of feedback about this area and we’re taking that into account for future events.”
Steranka’s statements do not directly address if the shiny odds were different for this year’s Pokémon Go Fest event compared to previous ones. However, the final sentiment from Niantic seems to hint that they continue to hear and want to address these problems within the community.
Although the past few months don’t seem to reflect this, as previously mentioned, a good amount of the Pokémon Go community was not thrilled about Niantic returning to pre-COVID-19 Community Day events, cutting the time to participate in half. In addition, more recently, Niantic seems to be slowly pulling away from beneficial items, such as the Remote Raid Pass item players can use to participate in a raid from any location.
Steranka also said, “Pokémon GO Fest events are about coming together for a weekend of fun catching, raiding, battling and exploring. Ideally, the totality of the content of a given event makes you feel like the event is a good value – the Special Research, the bundle of in-game items such as raid passes and incense, the global challenges, the spawns, the storyline, and so on.”
Bringing the community back and having them work together has been at the forefront of Niantic making these changes. It’s the focus of Steranka’s most recent Twitter post regarding the upcoming Deino Community Event on June 25.
Unfortunately, these step back from Niantic seems to value in-person communities far more than supporting online ones. Yet, both are equally important; we learned this critical fact following the COVID-19 worldwide lockdowns in 2020 and throughout 2021.
