Pokemon Go fans outraged over “misleading” PokeCoins offer
NianticPokemon Go’s Black Friday promotion has sparked controversy as players are calling out Niantic for “false advertising.”
On November 26, Pokemon Go advertised the game’s special Black Friday promotion on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, “You can get 2× PokeCoins on select Pokemon GO Web Store purchases.”
The advertisement led to immediate backlash from fans and players, who quickly pointed out the misleading nature of the tweet. As per Pokemon Go’s own blog post on November 21, the offer states, “Double your bonus PokeCoins per purchase on PokeCoins bundles over $20.”
As the web store also clearly states, players who purchase one of the eligible bundles receive just 2x the number of bonus PokeCoins and not 2x total PokeCoins, as the advertisement suggests. This has led to accusations of “false advertising” from some in the community.
This backlash comes as players expected a straightforward doubling of the PokeCoins they would receive. Instead, the deal only applies to the bonus coins received with purchases above $20, a detail many felt was obscured by Niantic’s marketing.
Players took to the comments section to express their frustration, stating, “X2 bonus coins not X2 coins – this is very misleading in the way it’s advertised.”
Another echoed this sentiment, “THIS IS FALSE ADVERTISING. You can get 2x bonus coins.”
The community was indeed critical of the post, which has now remained up for over 30 hours, despite criticism from both players on X and in Pokemon Go communities elsewhere, such as Reddit.
“Read the fine print, everybody. You’re taking advantage of your players. Double bonus coins only. Predatory and poorly ran company, wording things predatorily,” a comment read.
Another player highlighted the issue, “None of these offers have ‘2x PokeCoins’. Some of them have ‘2x bonus coins’ but that is significantly different to what you just tweeted.”
Pokemon Go’s Black Friday promotion runs until November 27 at 11:59 p.m. PST.
