Pokémon Go is ending 1 PokéCoin Remote Raid Pass bundles on May 23

Pokémon Go players will have fewer opportunities to take part in the game’s Raids remotely (for “free,” anyway) starting next week. Developer Niantic announced Thursday that it plans to end the weekly distribution of cheap Remote Raid Passes that have been included in one-PokéCoin bundles over the past two years, when the company added the new gameplay feature to adapt Pokémon Goto the COVID-19 epidemic.

Starts May 23rd Pokémon Go’s in-game shop will no longer include Remote Raid Passes in weekly one-PokéCoin Event Boxes, Niantic said in a post on the game’s official website. Instead, that cheap weekly box will feature “a rotating array of items,” Niantic said.

In announcing the change, Niantic says it’s “excited to get back to playing together in person” and that it’s working on ways to “support players who have difficulty reaching Gyms” with “solutions such as tools for community leaders to organize local events and faster approval for new Gyms.”

It Pokémon Go maker also says it’s bringing new social features to its mobile game in the next few months. These social features are currently being tested in an independent, standalone app that is accessible only to selected players from another Niantic game. For more information, please visit:It has been in use since May. The social app lets you talk with your friends and arrange meet-ups. Pokémon GoOver the years, players often used outside services such as Discord.

While Niantic’s promise to make it easier for players to coordinate meet-ups and access to new Gyms will likely help make the removal of inexpensive Remote Raid Passes sting less, the loss of another pandemic-era convenience will surely cause some outcry. Players can still purchase Remote Raid Passes from the shop, but they cost 100 PokéCoins for a single pass, and 250 coins for a three-pack. By holding Gyms players can make up to 50 Coins per Day for no cost. Or, they can pay real-world cash for bundles of coins.

Polygon sent questions to Pokémon Go live game director Michael Steranka about the changes, and our email Q&A is available below.

Polygon: For players who aren’t using the external social features you plan to bring to Pokémon GoCould you please elaborate on your hopes for the future and what it will mean to players currently playing?

Michael Steranka:It is important to meet other trainers. Pokémon Go experience, it’s partially what makes Pokémon GoIt is different than almost every other game. For newer trainers or veterans who raid from their homes a lot over the last two years, these skills and habits are important to learn or refresh. What we’re working on is a set of social tools and features that will empower Trainers to easily see where other Trainers are playing and congregating and to signal to others where they plan to battle or raid. So during Community Day, say you’re traveling to a new city and you want to meet up with local Trainers. You’ll be able to do that at-a-glance once these tools are ready. We are very concerned about privacy and we have made it clear that all these features can be turned off and fine-tuned to allow you to choose who and what to share with.

What’s the reasoning behind pulling Remote Raid Passes from 1 PokéCoin event boxes? Are there other options for players to acquire Remote Raid Passes, besides the Shop?

We want to bring back the joy of raiding with friends in person. Discounts and sales are powerful tools for Trainers to determine which game loops should they be focusing on. If there’s a hatching event going on, we may feature Incubators, for example. We want to leverage the 1 PokéCoin bundle to do just that moving forward, and use it to emphasize other types of gameplay.

This is why we’ve increased rewards for coming together in person to tackle challenging raid encounters. It is all part of the process of return Pokémon GoThis is your key experience.

This doesn’t mean that remote raiding as an option is going away, as we recognize the convenience that it brings to players. It is our intention to restore the feeling of joy experienced only in real life, such as when you saw your first Lugia and were able to share it with friends.

Note that with this change, there won’t be other ways to receive free Remote Raid Passes. It’s our goal however to provide a great value in the deals featured in the Shop for our events, and there’s a chance that Remote Raid Passes will be included in those bundles in the future.

What sort of items should players expect out of 1 PokéCoin event boxes going forward?

We plan to rotate a variety of things through, so it’s hard to say definitively at this point. That being said, the rotating 1 PokéCoin bundle first made its debut all the way back in 2020 and had many different permutations. These are excellent references to where the bundle is likely going in the future.

Do you have any plans to change raids such as EX Raids being returned or making them easier for people who might not otherwise be able find them?

Yes, the social media features of Niantic will be a major part of this. I can’t reveal too much just yet as we have initial details coming out at our Niantic Lightship event next week, but coming later this summer Trainers will have the tools to easily meet up with others for IRL raid battles and more.