Pokémon GO after criticism of GO Fest – that’s what Niantic says about the shiny chances

The big GO Fest 2022 took place in Pokémon GO on June 4th and 5th. But there was a lot of criticism from the community, mainly because of the low Shiny yield. Now Niantic has commented on the shiny chances. We at MeinMMO will show you what they said.

Which event is it about? A few days ago, Pokémon GO held the annual GO Fest. During the two-day event, trainers from all over the world could encounter special spawns, defeat interesting raid bosses, solve research and benefit from bonuses.

Anyone who bought a special event ticket for just under 17 euros could also hope for more content and should therefore also receive a higher shiny quota. But it is precisely this that has been heavily criticized since the GO Fest.

Many trainers who bought a ticket are now disappointed because they could hardly catch any shinys or sometimes even no shinyies at all. Our survey also shows how bad the Shiny yield really was at the GO Fest.

Michael Steranka (Director of Product at Pokémon GO) has now issued a statement of the online magazine dotesports commented on the criticism.

What are shinies?
These are Pokémon that are visually different from their normal form due to their color. For example, the iridescent Gyarados is red instead of blue. Shinys are therefore rare to find in the game, which is why they are particularly popular in the community.

“If shinys happen too often, it hurts the game”

As Michael Steranka reports according to dotesports, Niantic has noticed the community’s criticism of the GO Fest 2022 and has also received a lot of feedback on the event. They want to take this into account when planning future events.

In addition, he specifically comments on the criticism of the shiny quota for the GO Fest 2022 and says:

We understand that some Trainers judge the quality of a Pokémon GO event primarily by how many Shiny Pokémon they catch. We’ve heard from Trainers telling us how lucky they’ve been this year in terms of the number of Shiny Pokémon they’ve caught, while others have experienced the opposite. If Shinys occur too often, it will hurt the game in the long run.

Michael Steranka (via dotesports.com)

Steranka further explains that Niantic’s main goal when hosting the GO Fest is for the trainers to have fun with the content of the event for a weekend, such as catching, raiding, fighting or exploring, but also with the storyline, special research and challenges as well as the items.

So the goal is for the entire GO Fest to be perceived as worthwhile.

No reaction to further criticisms: But the shiny rate was not the only point of criticism from the coaches. Some players report that they had problems with the smoke throughout the event. Pokémon that spawned from the smoke would disappear in a few seconds, making it impossible to catch them.

But ticket holders in particular should get exclusive spawns from the smoke, such as Galar Mime, Unown or Milza. According to dotesports, Niantic did not respond to this criticism of the GO Fest 2022 in its statement.

Find a coach “Explaining is just a kick in the face”

The statement by Niantic is a good topic of conversation, especially in the reddit community. On the one hand, the reaction of Niantic with some trainers plays a role, but also that Steranka did not address the problems with the smoke. So you can find the following reactions there (via reddit.com):

• Runmindor: “They are basically admitting that the game is a casino (which of course we knew); ‘We want you to keep paying for the chance to get Shinys, but don’t get too many so as not to weaken our main source of income’.”

• tklite: “Half of my smoke spawns despawned as soon as they spawned. When I was in the game world smoke spawns spawned, I clicked on them and they immediately despawned. So many spleen candies are gone.

• JAZpfitts: “This is the worst possible reaction. They know the C-Day rates make the Shinys worse. […] It’s okay to say that you don’t want people to get your Shinys too easily, but you shouldn’t sell tickets (or Raid Passes or incubators) based on inflated rates and tout new Shinys as a feature when you then turns around and accuses the fandom of expecting Shiny’s. This is your event. You guys sold it for $15, and without Shinys it’s…not worth much. […] This statement is just a kick in the face.”

The fact that the GO Fest 2022 caused strong reactions was already evident immediately after the event. Whether the coaches were disappointed or relieved was largely dependent on two factors, namely whether they played with or without a ticket. And there was definitely positive feedback on GO Fest 2022, even if many players are rather frustrated by the new statement.

What do you think of Niantic’s statement on the shiny rate at GO Fest 2022? Do you agree that shinys should be rare in the game? Or should Pokémon GO make an exception for such events? Let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO.

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