Players of Pokémon Go are voicing growing discontent with what they perceive as an excessive focus on Mewtwo, citing recent events as evidence of the creature's popularity being "milked" for monetization potential. This sentiment has surfaced following a disappointing end-of-summer event marred by persistent server and technical issues.
Mewtwo raids returned to the game this summer after a significant hiatus, building anticipation for the release of Mega Mewtwo X and Y at various Go Fest events. The creature was also a central feature of the game's New York anniversary event, which preceded all players receiving a free Mewtwo with perfect stats. Go Fest Global, the game's largest annual event, essentially became a Mega Mewtwo raid weekend for participants. However, this event was plagued by technical glitches that disrupted raids across multiple time zones, leading to a makeup event later in July.
The most recent event, Go Fest: Mega Finale, introduced Mega Chesnaught, Mega Delphox, and Mega Greninja, though players could only acquire one of the three. The event's primary focus, however, returned to Mewtwo with the reintroduction of Mega Mewtwo X and Y, alongside the Armored Mewtwo variant, last available in 2020.
Despite developer Scopely Explore's announcement of Armored Mewtwo's return later this year, with players widely expecting its Shiny version to debut then, fan reception has been notably apathetic. This upcoming appearance is viewed by many as hasty, fueling accusations that the game is becoming overly greedy. The recurring technical problems have only exacerbated these complaints.
Scopely Explore has acknowledged that raids were impacted by a "short network disruption that affected raids in the Americas," and has compensated affected players with two raid passes. However, the company has directed further compensation requests to its customer support team, with varying degrees of success reported by players.
Community forums and fan sites have seen an influx of critical responses to announcements about Armored Mewtwo's return. Comments such as "Armored Mewtwo will return in: give us more money," and "Doing whatever it takes to milk the players left and right," reflect a broader sentiment that the game has saturated the player base with Mewtwo content. "They've thrown so much Mewtwo at everyone that people are sick of it now," one user stated.
The recurring technical issues have also reignited calls for changes to how raid passes are deducted from player accounts. Unlike newer in-game currencies like Max Particles and Link Charges, raid passes are consumed the moment a raid battle begins. If a battle fails due to technical errors, players must manually seek reimbursement from customer support. Newer currencies are only deducted upon successful battle completion, preventing losses from glitches.
Discussions on platforms like The Silph Road indicate a strong desire for raid passes to be deducted only after a battle has been successfully completed. "This predatory practice by Niantic and then Scopely needs to stop," one fan argued. "There is no player-friendly reason for raid passes to be consumed just for entering the raid."
Pokémon Go senior producer John Funtanilla previously addressed similar concerns, noting that Max Particles and Link Charges were designed to be consumed post-battle as a lesson learned from raid mechanics. While acknowledging that raid passes are applied upon joining a battle, he stated that the development team is continuously working to improve the player experience and reimbursement processes for in-game issues.