Most speculation regarding Pokémon GO centres around how the game will play and when it will come out. Another point to keep in mind is that the game will be free-to-play, and as such, have a free-to-play monetization system. It will no doubt be influenced in no small part by Ingress, but will the monetization system be anti-consumer?
At present, we don’t even have a hint of knowledge on how the game’s microtransactions will work, although it’s easy to speculate on how it could work. Perhaps the in-game Pokémon Mart from the handheld games will translate into real-world currency, so that you have to pay for every Pokéball you catch? This would certainly put catching Legendary and Mythical Pokémon out of reach for a lot of non-paying players, however.
One theory, floated by a Reddit thread, speculates that almost any action players make in the game will cost money, and if players aren’t willing to pay, they remain underpowered. There might also be charges on customization, such as on costumes. There’s always the looming threat of pay-to-win when we think of free-to-play games, but let’s hope Nintendo is sensible enough not to fall into that trap.
How do you think will the microtransaction system in Pokémon GO work? Let us know in the comments below.