Pokémon Go players have been waiting for Niantic to take more dramatic steps to pull away from Remote Raid Passes, and the day has come. Unfortunately, that means the overall prices for these items have increased across the board.
To drive the nail even further, Niantic has also increased the rewards for players who participate in person for these raids, making it far more beneficial to find them in a player’s local area. This is moving in the opposite direction of the community feedback, with many players saying they actively use them to participate in these challenging in-game activities.
Niantic discourages players from using Remote Raid Passes
The announcement was made on the official Pokémon Go blog, where the team shared that the prices for the Remote Raid Pass three-pack will be going up to 525 PokéCoins, the single purchase goes up to 195, and there will now be a Premium Battle Pass three-pack purchase in the in-game shop — players who complete in-person raids will receive more Candy XL rewards.
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These changes have been hinted at for quite some time, and the fears of a daily cap have become true. These were leaked initially when the creator behind the Pokémon database website Serebii, Joe Merrick, shared an image showing that he had a set amount of Remote Raids available for that day. The limited raid message disappeared, but it gave the community plenty of time to prepare for these limitations, but not the price change.
Niantic initially introduced the Remote Raid Passes to react to the worldwide COVID outbreak and the various restrictions seen throughout countries. These items were an instant hit, making it far more accessible for the average player to participate in the more difficult raids, especially for players who had trouble finding groups in their community.
Over the past year, Niantic has been trying to pull away from these raids slowly. Public reception of this choice has been decidedly negative, but with today’s price increases, Niantic appears to be strict in their vision for Pokémon Go and is following it to the letter.
All Remote Raid Pass price increases will occur on April 6 at 11 PDT, alongside the Premium Battle Pass three-pack purchase.
