Pokémon Go has begun testing Reward Road, a new in-game scheme to provide additional bonuses when players spend real-world money on virtual items.
The reward program is live now to some players in Australia and New Zealand while developer Niantic gathers feedback. So far, players on reddit report that the scheme offers 30 Points for this month’s £5 “Eggs-pedition” event ticket. The top reward from the scheme requires 3000 Points, suggesting this will be unlocked when players spend an eye-popping £500.
So what are these rewards? Well, for 50 Points (so not quite enough from spending a fiver) you’ll get one Premium Battle Pass. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.
Hit 750 Points and you’ll also have claimed a couple of Incubators, plus a Lucky Egg, a Star Piece, a couple of incense and some stickers. This is all stuff that you could get in-game relatively easily (by winning a Showcase, for example) or purchase in a box with PokéCoins for a lot less than it would cost to hit the 750 Points mark with real-world money.
Reward Road only awards points when you spend cash – not PokéCoins which can be earned for free in-game, and also not if you buy tickets to real-world events like in-person Go Fests, presumably because Niantic uses its own web platform for those. Oh, and your points reset each month, so the race will always be on to spend more every 30 days.
By the time you’ve hit 3000 Points, you’ll have unlocked around 15 Battle Passes and 16 Incubators, as well as a smattering of other rewards. This might cost you around a tenner normally if buying in an in-game bundle. But is it worth spending more to hit £500? Nowhere close.
It’s hard to see anyone but Pokémon Go’s true whales deliberately spending more money per month to unlock these rewards. But perhaps they are the target market here. It’ll be interesting to see whether Reward Road is tweaked further and makes it out of testing to a wider release.
Pokémon Go’s new Dual Destiny season kicks off today with an event that introduces Sinistea, the teacup Pokémon. Cheers!