Pokemon Go players livid over “overpriced” Zarude ticket event
Niantic/The Pokemon CompanyPokemon Go fans are angry over the steep price tag for the Verdant Wonders event, which involves acquiring a Zarude.
Pokemon fans have been critical of the mainline games shifting to a DLC format, as they often add content that players believe should have been in the base game to begin with, such as the more difficult post-story content.
On the other hand, the series does give away a lot of content for free, with an almost live-service approach to things like Tera Raids and Legendary/Mythical Pokemon distributed via Mystery Gift codes.
The opposite is true for Pokemon Go, which is a free-to-play game that makes money by selling in-game items. These include tickets to unlock special research tasks, many of which have guaranteed Legendary/Mythical Pokemon encounters.
Pokemon Go fans furious over expensive Zarude event
A user of the Pokemon Go Reddit has created a thread criticizing the Verdant Wonders event, which will sell tickets for $7.99 USD that will guarantee you an encounter with Zaruda, a Mythical Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Sword & Shield.
Fans flocked to the thread to complain about the pricey event, especially since it follows other paid-ticketed events like Pokemon Go Fest 2024.
“I’m not paying $8 for a Zarude,” one fan stated, while another said, “Overpriced remote raids, overpriced event tickets. In 2 years, ultra balls will be rare drops or store exclusive. They gotta milk the players until the very end.”
“The tickets are getting out of hand. Everything is ticket this and ticket that. I don’t mind the very cheap ones,” one user wrote, “But now they drop tickets and you don’t even know what you’re getting further down the line, such as the Wonder Ticket… it’s getting a bit ridiculous.”
“P.s. I also remember a time when for big events you would get all the bonuses. Now you only get the bonuses if you bought the ticket.”
“They’re wild for this. I don’t think I’d pay 8 bucks for a Zarude. I guess they’ll get some saps who want him in Home,” one user pointed out, while another added, “Legit pay to play. Garbage company ruining the game year after year.”
The price of the Zarude encounter is bad enough, but its proximity to other events is another issue. Ultimately, Pokemon Go is a business, but Niantic runs the risk of chasing fans away from the game if the best content is constantly gated behind pricey one-off purchases.
