Pokemon GO community outraged over “tone-deaf” Strange Egg requirement

In an update to Pokemon GO’s Autumn event, the mobile title is getting “Strange Eggs” added to the game. However, some players are furious over the new item’s lengthy requirements to hatch them.

Pokemon GO hit the app store in July 2016, and quickly became a cultural phenomena. The mobile title brought the beloved Nintendo franchise to real life, as players around the world left their house to catch their favorite monsters.

The wildly popular release is celebrating 2020’s Autumn event. However, the game’s latest addition, Strange Eggs, has upset some Trainers who feel its requirements are ridiculous and unfair given the current climate.

New Pokemon GO event sparks outrage

In Pokemon GO’s latest update, the mobile game rolled out Strange Eggs for the October 12 event. In the announcement, the items are described as having been collected by Team GO Rocket, and will hatch Poison-type and Dark-type monsters.

According to the official notes, the special eggs will require 12 km to hatch: “Defeat a Team GO Rocket Leader to receive a Strange Egg, and walk 12 km to hatch it. You’ll need to have space in your Egg inventory before your battle.”

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The new items have the possibility of containing Larvitar, Scraggy, Trubbish, Vullaby, Pawniard, Deino, and more inside of them. However, some players quickly took notice of the eggs’ lengthy walking distance needed to make them hatch.

Outraged, Trainers took to social media to hit out at developer Niantic for the 12 km distance, such as one user who said, “They’re TWELVE KM? That just seems tone deaf.” Another player agreed, and exclaimed, “12 is too much full stop. 10 is too much. The egg pools are absolute garbage.”

Site admin of popular Pokemon outlet Serebii, Joe Merrick, also shared his thoughts on certain Pokemon being locked behind these eggs. “12km eggs is a bit much for right now. Seriously. I do hope this changes and they become widely available without going outside in these times,” he said.

It should be pointed out though, that according to Serebii, that distance is measured in ¼ during the event, so hatching Strange Eggs should be closer to 3 km. However, angry players pointed out that the eggs will stay around after the event ends on October 18 at the full 12 km distance.

Given the current state of the world with hundreds of major cities still issuing lockdowns, many Trainers questioned the developer for making the distance on these items even higher.

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At the time of writing, Niantic has not yet responded to the backlash. Nor is it clear if the 12 km distance will be changed, or if the ¼ distance will continue to be applied after the event.