Like any live-service game, it’s important thatPokemon GOnever stops changing. By always running limited-time events with changing rewards and activities, Niantic gives fans lots of different reasons to keep engaging with its mobile AR take on thePokemonfranchise. In recent years,Pokemon GOhas benefited greatly from Seasons, which arrange events like Special Research and Collection Challenges together under the roof of a storyline. These are great, but interestingly, it doesn’t seem like every type ofPokemon GOactivity pops up in seasons and special events equally. For instance, Global Challenges seem pretty underutilized by Niantic on the whole.
The premise of a Global Challenge is straightforward:Pokemon GOplayers everywhere all get a major goal to achieve, and they share a reward when they complete that goal.Pokemon GOjust ran a Global Challenge asking players to send 7 million Gifts to one another, and as a reward, fans got to enjoy a major bonus toCandy earned from Transfers. This Global Challenge is great, butPokemon GOcan get more out of the Global Challenge model. Niantic ought to look at Global Challenges more closely and figure out how it can coordinate different parts ofPokemon GO’s international audience as a part of more complicated, engaging sets of challenges.
Pokemon GO’s Global Challenges Have Potential
Global Challenges are a great element ofPokemon GObecause they make use ofa central theme ofPokemon: teamwork. The core series of games is all about trainers having positive working relationships with their Pokemon, as well as collaborating with each other to protect the world from evil. Global Challenges givePokemon GOplayers a chance to feel like one big team. However, a lot of these challenges are pretty simple, featuring a single objective thatPokemon GOplayers race through together. As a result, Global Challenges are fleeting, and often not actually very challenging.
Ideally, futurePokemon GOGlobal Challenges will make more use of the game’s different regions. For instance, a Global Challenge could give the Americas an objective related to completing Research Tasks, while players in Asia and the Pacific have tocapture a certain number of Pokemon. What’s more, regions might unlock rewards for one another, rather than for themselves, givingPokemon GOplayers a stronger sense of contributing to one another. Both rewards and challenges could switch around as these events go on as well, creating a greater challenge to motivate players. The 2018 Global Challenge already divided upPokemon GOplayers into distinct regions, so Niantic just has to diversify the activities that Global Challenges offer.
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More Challenges in Pokemon GO
Making short but layered Global Challenges a common event inPokemon GOwould be especially valuable because it gives players a new event type to interact with. Aside from Special Research,Pokemon GOplayers frequently get Collection Challenges, and not everyone is keen on collecting a specific list of Pokemon since some of them can be awfully hard to get regardless of increased spawn rates. Collection Challenges are a good occasional feature ofPokemon GOsince they also represent a core aspect ofPokemon,but they ought to share the stage with Global Challenges a little more frequently.
Whether Niantic itself has any particular interest in running more Global Challenges remains to be seen. Niantic may see Global Challenges as a tool to be reserved formajorPokemon GOevents, which would make sense to some extent, but still seems like a bit of a waste. Hopefully 2022’s Valentine’s Day Global Challenge is evidence to the contrary, suggesting that Niantic is willing to start using Global Challenges more casually. If these events become more common, hopefully, Niantic finds ways to givePokemonGOplayers more unique, demanding objectives to complete as a community.
Pokemon GOis available now for Android and iOS devices.
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