Pokemon Go has been active for the past seven years, bringing the excitement of tracking down, training, and battling Pokemon to mobile devices. The developers are planning an event to celebrate, called the 7th Anniversary Party, but players are not looking forward to the normally happy occasion.
What gives many Pokemon Go players pause are the numerous rotating rewards and the bonuses the development team has planned out for the event. Many fans are pointing out the recycled content that Niantic is bringing to the event, with little to nothing new being debut, and the bonuses are less than enticing for many players, making for a lackluster anniversary celebration.
Niantic Stumbles with Pokemon Go’s 7th Aniversary Party Pokemon Spawns and Rewards
The Pokemon Go community has taken to a Silphroad subreddit post to share their displeasure. One player points out the lack of real incentives to attend the event, saying, “I’m blown away by the lack of the CD moves returning. This really will be an event I just play from my home 90% of it, this offers next to nothing new.”
Another user points out various “rewards” to the event, detailing that “bunch of starters without access to the moves that make them good. ‘New shiny debut’ is just evolutions of costume Pokemon. Pretty underwhelming non-starter event spawns. Both anniversary reaches are money locked. The daily bonuses are neat and will be nice to have for the full day, but damn, that’s about it.”
How Pokemon Go’s 7th Anniversary Party works is each day, a new series of starter Pokemon from the main games has an increased chance to appear throughout that celebration day, and there are other active bonuses. One example is on July 6, 2023, all players receive twice as much experience for catching Pokemon, and on July 8, 2023, all players receive twice as much candy for catching Pokemon. Although these daily bonuses are nice, there’s no big draw for players to attend this event, save for a newly added costume Pokemon, Pikachu wearing a cake hat.
Players have certainly noticed the lack of features for this event. Additional comments in the subreddit include, “I guess casuals still need starters for their collections though, but for us who are past that this event is quite bad.”
Beyond these bonuses, there’s nothing else happening, and the Pokemon Go community can feel it. Even the two timed researches exclusive for the event are locked behind a paywall. Granted, one of them does make sense, where it’s a Masterwork Research, where players can work through these tasks to encounter a shiny Mew. However, the Timed Research feels like something that should be offered to everyone who plays the game, not if they pay $2.
The 7th Anniversary Party for Pokemon Go is an event that stumbled before it started. Likely, Niantic is waiting to bring out their being guns for the final month of the Season of Hidden Gems, where Pokemon Go Fest will be celebrated throughout August, but that’s a lot to ask for from players who have been throughout this year and want to know the mobile game they still enjoy playing is worth even playing.
