As first reported by Pokemon GO Hub, Niantic has announced it’s opening separate out-of-game store for its MMOARPG Pokemon GO. Readers will recall that a similar issue saw Fortnite booted from Apple’s App store and resulted in a lengthy legal battle, but so far, Niantic has limited the news and the store to out-of-game advertising only. This is key because according to the App Store rules under Section 3.1.3, “Apps in this section cannot, within the app, encourage users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase,” but “[d]evelopers can send communications outside of the app to their user base about purchasing methods other than in-app purchase.”
In other words, POGO is probably fine as long as Niantic keeps all its personal store stuff out of the Pokemon GOÂ app proper.
However, section 3.1.1 notes that “[a]pps offering ‘loot boxes’ or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase,” yet Niantic’s lockboxes/lootboxes (eggs) do not do this. As we covered following Niantic’s “transparency” update to eggs, the feature shows only which pokemon are available in the vaguest of senses, giving no numerical odds for the basic pokemon type and giving no indication on the shiny odds. So it kinda looks as if Niantic is once again seeing what it can get away with here.
Is the flouting Apple’s rules worth it? The Silph Road argues that it varies from region to region. Australians have noted that their 100 coin pack for $1 is still the best deal; a Canadian noted the same aside from the $139.99 pack (around 104 coins for $1) is the best one with, again, the 100 coin pack for $1 being second; and Norwegian players mostly come out ahead, with one player noting that Niantic is getting 30% more profits while passing roughly 50% of the savings to the customer.
Still, as we’ve chronicled, Niantic is a problematic company refusing to engage with its community, so maybe zipping up your wallet is a wiser move anyway.
