Thanks to a recent tweet from reliable Pokémon Go data-mining account PokeMiners, the game’s community is in turmoil about the potential addition of battle passes to the game. The tweet revealed that an item called the Battle Pass Ticket was added to the game’s files, prompting many to wonder whether a battle pass system is coming to the base game sometime in the future.
Could Pokémon Go ever have a battle pass? Has it had one in the past? We’re taking a look at those questions here, so read on if you’re curious about what the future of Pokémon Go could look like.
Go Battle League battle pass
Pokémon Go has had a battle pass system before, but only in the Go Battle League, its player-vs-player mode. In Go Battle League, players can take on other real-life trainers and earn rewards for all the battles they win. The mode came bundled with both a basic rewards and premium rewards battle pass, both of which awarded items and bonuses for hitting certain milestones. Players could access the basic rewards track for free or purchase a premium battle pass to obtain better rewards.
This is the only battle pass system that Pokémon Go has ever had. Developer Niantic has yet to make an official statement about the data mine or the new item, but data-mined items can end up in the actual game, so there could be a battle pass coming to the main game sometime in the future.
Some players are excited about a potential battle pass since it could make it easier for dedicated players to earn rare and difficult-to-achieve rewards. On the other hand, many fans are concerned about Niantic’s increasing amount of monetization in the game and worry that it could be yet another way that it nickel-and-dimes players.
If Niantic updates players with future battle pass plans, we’ll update this article.
