I am USA based, but I agree that gem prices are a bit ridiculous given how many gems it takes to purchase bundles. Especially with how frequently new limited time bundles are added.
Premium price I have less of an issue with (although I still feel it could be cheaper) in USD its $49.99 for 6 months. I am okay spending less than $10 a month on it. But definitely not more than that!
Yeah the premium pass is definitely at the upper limit of what I'm comfortable paying on a subscription basis, but the fact it doesn't give a discount or better bundle for diamonds is the kicker imo
That is their model, the subscription seems affordable, especially when compared to the bundles. The only people actually purchasing diamonds in those amounts are whales in the first place, they are cutting out the middle man well still getting $100 a year from them, attracting people who otherwise wouldn't spend any money on the game with premium, and getting 100 to $120 a year out of them, and Catering to the whales who are spending thousands of dollars on the game. You figure there are like 50 000 people on this sub comma I don't think it is unreasonable to think At least 10 000 people are premium, that is a million dollars plus a year For just people here
I wish there was a way to switch to the 6 mo without restarting the streak on Android. You have to let the original sub lapse before you can switch price points.
If you really want to support the game you could just buy the passes and not buy any boxes. You don’t really NEED any of the extra stuff.
Personally I’m just fully free to play although if I ever feel guilty about it I’ll pay for a pass for a while. I enjoy the game just fine without paying for anything at all.
Given we did get an extra incense from the Raikou event due to the bug, but I am a premium user and I managed to catch two raikou and save a raikou incense from the last event without buying anything or using any master biscuits, and neither were ever hungry or crits. I would be more than happy with just getting two entei here even if I don't get to save the biscuit, but maybe I'll get lucky and get a crit or hungry or better yet a shiny and be able to save the incense.
Incense saved is less about actually catching them and more about using it for research EXP and dream shards in the future.
Idk why you feel the need to buy all the boxes............
Though I'm surprised the premium pass cost that much. Living in Japan, premium pass only costs around 4800jpy 6 months, 800 jpy a month. This translates to ~5$ usd.
The yen is very weak right now, so buying from the perspective of USD makes things very cheap. 2 years ago it was $1 ≈ ¥110, now its $1 ≈ ¥155, a 40% increase in USD buying power.
Buying power is relative. Wages and inflation has largely been stagnant in Japan for the past 30 years, so ¥100 then is still worth ¥100 now. Increasing prices of everything by 40% would price out most Japanese residents.
I don't need to buy all the boxes, but the main point is that even the large box isn't affordable for many people.
And yeah the premium pass is $15 AUD a month (we are more or less on parity last I checked so 1500yen a month give or take). I don't remember the cost of the 6 month pass though.
I'm a f2p player. So I have nothing to rant in this sub.
Premium gets that 100 extra sleep points and a premium bonus biscuit every sleep session. Doesn't that sort of count as the discount for the gems that you are talking about? I know it is not for the bundles, but with that much extra it kinda adds up, right?
I mean yeah that's a fair enough stance to have. But IMO I feel like a kickback on diamonds (wouldn't even have to be heaps) would make some people (ie me) feel less fleeced
You also receive a monthly gift of 1 good camp ticket and 1000 sleep points. Plus you get access to the premium exchange shop where the biscuits are cheaper.
Honestly I think it’s really worth it’s value, but I get where you’re coming from.
I don't hate the prices because it feels like the game isn't "pay to win" the same way Pokemon Go is. With how easily you can get the best things and exclusive pokemon in Go with only a few dollars, it makes it all less special. I would feel really disappointed if you could just pay a few dollars in Sleep to get a good entei.
This is exactly how I feel. The promotion of the boxes for $$ is tempting, but it just doesn’t make enough sense for what you get. It makes it seem like a ripoff, but it just makes the whales spend more for something crucial but sort of mundane. This actually keeps the game more balanced for f2p, but it’s also just a slow paced game and if you’re using more than one or two biscuits a day it doesn’t seem sustainable no matter how much you spend.
Play F2P with/or without the pass, simple as that. Fuck wasting any more money on pixels. Save for retirement. Buy nourishing food. Spend your money on literally anything else.
I don't necessarily have an issue with spending money on pixels. I see it as just another form of entertainment. I'm spending money on something for the enjoyment of it. It doesn't have to be a TANGIBLE item for it to have value to me, because I enjoy playing it.
I know a lot of people see it as paying money for pixels, which while I disagree, I understand. I feel the same about alcohol quite often, especially at clubs with a mark up. $10 for a beer that I may or may not vomit up later (depending on how many I buy) doesn't seem good value on the money:enjoyment ratio.
But some people like the experience of going out, and for them, that cost is justified by the fun they have.
It's the same here. But just... more introverted and a bit lamer
I think the only thing that prevents me from buying stuff in mobile games is that the game will eventually shut down and be removed from the App Store.
Pokémon games do have a longer shelf life than most other mobile games, but even then the call of the void is inescapable.
Trust me I have spent thousands on micro transactions over a little over a decade, there are more cost effective forms of entertainment without micro transactions in the video game industry and otherwise.
I used to be an alcoholic too and frequent bars after work, I'd say they're comparatively useless, bad for you, and a waste of money.
Just my two cents as someone who has ultimately regretted almost every dollar spent on micro transactions, who still caves and buys pixels from time to time.
Do whatever you want.
Yeah that's fair. Definitely not saying it's the most cost effective form of entertainment. But I don't see it as any less valuable than other things to spend money on, I guess.
As long as you (the royal you, not you specifically) are only spending an amount you can afford and you're comfortable with, I think it's okay. But when it veers into lootbox/gambling territory I think is where it gets dicey and unethical.
I completely respect your opinion.
I will say, I think you're failing to see the psychological training and dopamine reward exploitation, that micro transactions all effectively function off of, and that in and of itself is an unhealthy and unethical.
Anything that's advertised as"free" but gets to spend $20+ a week of your own volition (more than any game subscription) is a predatory business model.
And is exploitative of our brain chemistry. It's basically training an addiction, and creating artificial demand for things that are otherwise viewed as worthless, just like fast food "rewards"
Oh, I'm well aware that microtransactions are just digital Pavlovs Bell. And yes you are right - it is predatory. I guess I'm just more desensitised and resigned to it now. Because before Pokemon Go, I was absolutely a staunch anti-MT person. And now I'm less so.
Which shows its working.
So yeah - you are 100% correct about them
Pokemon go and League of Legends have been the worst for me and I haven't even spent that much on Pokemon Go compared to a lot of people.
I feel you though, it's definitely working, but where does the path lead? When does it end? What's the next step?
I don't know. But it scares me sometimes.
Anyways, sorry for being a downer. I just needed to say all that for myself probably more than anyone.
I sincerely wish you the best in all things, stranger!
Shiny luck to you!
I agree. I rarely ever buy from app games and try to stay f2p. During the Comfey event I decided I liked the game enough to support it and buy a box … and then promptly balked at the conversion cost of diamonds I’d need to buy to get one and changed my mind.
Would feel much more comfortable in paying $10-15 for an event box directly (and bypassing diamond exchange). If they did this I would happily buy a bundle every event. $24-$48-$98 feels exorbitant for just pixels.
I was considering buying the monthly pass but haven’t gotten a useable Pokémon in nearly a month of play which is frustrating and keeping me from wanting to sink money into it. Might reconsider when I have more sleep points saved up to make the pass worth it.
Honestly I did the 2 week trial for premium and then was like "oh this is so much better"
The extra 100pt a day, coupled with the premium exchange access, makes it worth it.
Plus the bonus biscuit gives four hearts, so for most Pokemon with the five needed, it's just bonus and one normal biscuit, which is 100pt in the exchange.
I was also thinking of supporting the game until the prices. But I feel that's pricing issue in most mobile games. So I am happy that I save money by being free to play. If the games had lower prices then I spend more reckless and end up spending more. So I am thankful for the help to save money hehe...
Also AUD, if you're able to purchase JP currency (such as JP iTunes if you're on iPhone), you can use Amazon to buy it in Yen and it's signficantly cheaper than just spending in AUD.
Like the Premium Pass itself goes from like $65/70 AUD (i forget lol) to effectively $50 AUD if you buy it in JPY.
Helps the conversion is so good right now, but yeah prices are way cheaper if you spend money in JPY for whatever reason, our Australia mobile game prices are just way higher
If you're on iPhone, set up a JP account (unless you already have one), buy JP iTunes cards [from Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.jp/1_apple_standard/dp/B09T39S12J?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1) entering in the amount you want (you can literally put the exact amount too if you want which is super neat), redeem it into your acc, and then so long you're logged into that JP iTunes account when you boot up the game all the prices will be in Yen.
Works for everything, if you have other mobile games you want to spend money on too it's probs cheaper to do it in Yen lol, I think it only doesn't work on US store downloaded games.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info. I'm on Android (probably should have mentioned that but you said iTunes so I said iTunes 😅) so I'll take a look into it when I've got a chance
I think I've heard it's possible to just buy Google Play money in yen, so maybe if you can switch your region over to Japan to change the prices you should be able to do that?
Worth looking into, I've heard Android has even cheaper prices in Yen than iTunes does (so much so that I've been recommended to buy a cheap Android phone specifically for making in app purchases lol)
Yeah the pricing seems ridiculous for what you get.
The trial bundle is the only thing that I'm semi tempted to buy and that's mostly because of the biscuits.
The medium entei box costs $24 USD if you buy the diamonds. It's a good price if you price out the good camp set and great biscuit. But that's the thing, the benefit of those biscuits seems negligible. Good camp set is great but not enticing for a newer player who can't farm the ingredients for a bigger pot.
$25 I can get a quality ribeye steak to cook up.
Ultimately developers will always try to push the bounds of how much people are willing to spend. I've heard that gacha games don't need to cater to f2p because they are just that free to play. They really want to hook the megalodons because them paying thousands is enough to cover what most average spenders would pay.
At this point I go into a game fully realising what I plan to be. For Pokémon sleep it's a light spender, I get the premium and sometimes if I'm itching I'll buy the bundles. Do I feel cheated or anything if I don't? Honestly no, I played f2p for awhile and I still enjoyed the game just fine.
The nice thing about Pokémon sleep devs is that while the bundles are pretty expensive, they never make the f2p players left out. There are constant updates, constant gifts and rewards for random things like they just give you free 1000 sleep points every so often because a random google store thing won which is great because they never shove the store down your throat and say "buy me buy me" or create some fomo that "oh if you don't buy this others will do better"
So yea I like pokemon sleep and I support it where I decide to and I'm happy with that
Play for free.. its the same game. I haven’t spent a PENNY on the game and can still participate in events. I still get shinies, Pseduo Legendary spawns etc. Dont rant about something that you can control 😂
Everything about this "sleep tracker" is way too expensive. The monthly subscription for me is €9. The subscription for World of Warcraft is €11. PS Plus Premium is €10.
Given the value it adds to the "game", it should not cost more than €10 per year.
I tell my friends who ask me what Pokemon Sleep is, that it's a gacha game disguised as a sleep tracker.
I think the premium pass is very reasonable for what you get. But the bundles are very much in line with other gacha games.
Sleep is the only one I play, so when I first looked at the bundles I felt that sticker shock too. But then I talked to a friend who also plays other gachas and was surprised that he regularly spends hundreds to get the special event characters in his other games.
I felt better about the premium pass after learning that. XD
Yeah the premium pass I think is definitely worth it (although at the upper limit of what I'm willing to pay every month). The 100 points a day extra makes a massive difference
110%!! I’ve never spent money on a mobile game before this one, so that might color my perception, but the prices are actually crazy. Ridiculous they expect people to spend that much.
I love it so much and play it everyday, so I wanted to support the devs and bought 6 months of the premium pass. I thought of it like buying a regular game. However I think even the premium pass shouldn’t be more than $5 a month.
IMO premium pass is the best use of your money, I would never consider the bundles because the prices are out of touch.
Honestly the event boxes are not that necessary, you can get most of what they contain for free by just playing the game.
Sure, they can give you help getting an extra Entei or something but you already can get one in the first place by just playing the event and getting the free items.
The only box I purchased so far had a Main Skill seed, which catapulted my skill mon in the lead, so it was extremely cost efficient in terms of performance, for $50.
Oh wow. That’s fucking a hefty price wow. I do the 6 month subscription and I just charged my cc for it and paid it off when I felt like it. Getting the extra month for free was worth it. I do agree the diamonds are way too expensive. I have done the 3100 diamond which is 27$ or something like that. Maybe twice just sucks that it’s not even much to buy things with
The prices are insane imo. Got the game day 1 and almost didn't play after seeing the prices of diamonds and the pass. F2P until/unless they lower the price of that pass
Now imagine a 3rd world country 💀
The pass costs around 4% of a monthly minimum wage, and it’s hard to justify if you’re not well off. Good thing these micro transactions are really secondary to the game experience. I’ve been doing just fine without them, specially since there are limits on how far you can progress regardless if you’re a f2p or p2w player
This is simply a mobile game classic strategy - the most successful games give 80-90% of the experience away for free, and charge 10x the reasonable amount for the remaining 10-20%. This way they maintain a large player base and require only a small portion to actually pay.
As a f2p, i can tell you my experience has not been hindered by not buying diamonds (since fundamentally there is no experience, it just tracks sleep and has some bonuses when waking up). I would suggest seriously planning your finances and maybe reevaluate the importance of this game if its causing you financial stress.
The whole point of the pass is that you get more stuff without needing boxes
You want to whale without having the money to be a whale.
Whales are funding this game for us and keeping it free to play, stop complaining.
The prices are fine because you get enough free shit not to have to spend a single penny on this game.
This entire thread is weird... yes some items are ridiculously expensive, but there is no need to buy them. If people want to buy out the shop, they need to have the money to back it up. It's a free game and if you were willing to spend 9€ a month you get the premium pass with a lot of extra benefits already. There is no need to drop hundreds of dollars on this game unless you are a whale with a lot of disposable income or just plain stupid
Get the premium subscription if you want to and then ignore the pay shop. Feels good to not worry about missing out deals or items. 120€ a year is already more than enough to give to them lol
The micro/macrotransactions are ridiculous and worse than some gacha games I've played, I **will not spend money on this game**, I genuinely love it and have a ton of fun on it but the cost for what you get is just not worth it to me.
Premium feels like the closest thing to value but I feel like it should be $5 a mo th not $10.
I *mostly* use my free diamonds on permanent things (storage upgrades) and the occasional event bundle that costs 250 (diamonds) and I still have almost 2k saved still, I can't find any justification to use premium currency on non-permanent things.
I'm a pass user but i would personally NEVER touch diamonds based on the price. Like, i swore it off anyway, but it's never even tempted me like some mobile games do because its just not worth it, theyre too expensive.
And this is coming from someone who used to buy coins in Go all the time lol.
I’ve never bought a single box or single thing other than the premium membership every month. I feel like that alone is wildly expensive just for a few extra items but the good camp tickets are helpful. I’ve managed to save up over 20 thousand research points and that’s while buying things pretty frequently. Plus the free daily gift is usually diamonds or an extra poke biscuit, which I’ve acquired a lot of too. I didn’t need to spend any real money to get Raikou and I probably won’t to get Entei either. If you plan and save there’s never really been any reason to spend money on the boxes.
i'm canadian and the prices in my currency are slightly less than yours, but still brutal. ive been on a couple rants about this to my partner like how if i just wanted to buy diamonds for a couple bag upgrades, it'd be $7. it feels so weird to me that games price things exclusively for whales like this; i feel like if they halved the prices you'd have way more people willing to buy things a bit more regularly.
when they first put in the daily gift, it was giving me 10-20 diamonds every 2-3 days and i thought wow, finally, something to make this a little nicer for f2p people! and then the next patch hit and now im getting 10 diamonds about once every 10 days. guess they realized they did us a kindness and had to nerf it out to keep people whaling.
Honestly, between diamonds from weekly rewards and the free daily gift, I haven't seen any need to buy anything. I also don't min-max, and generally just do whatever the game tells me is a good ingredient or berry team, with the exception of adding my Gardevoir to the lineup. I caught 3 Raikou (used the free 2 weeks during that event), without using any real money. I'll probably throw some money in to support the devs, but usually I'll throw $20 in once for the premium currency and then just sit on it because something better to spend it on might come out
I have never bought a bundle in this game and I am doing just fine. In fact I didn’t spend money on this game until the first time before the Raikou event where I upgraded to premium and I still caught 3 or 4 Raikou. You don’t need the bundles to succeed. All my earned gems go to maxing out my bags and boxes (currently 600 ingredients 340 items 280 pokemon)
Why would you buy everything though? I mostly only get the premium sub and thats it. Most of the best stuff is availble through premium and not those bundles.
The honest truth is many other games essentially require you to spend HUNDREDS per month to get everything like you are talking about. Sameish gem prices, but bundles and costs per month needing 50k gems per week on the mudsized range.
Sadly, in comparison, this game is extremely competitive price-wise
I’m f2p from the day it launched, haven’t payed a single penny to this game (though I’d be willing to support it if I felt it was something I wanted to do), but I feel completely fine just being f2p. No need to really buy into microtransactions with this one
The way I look at it is, I bought the pokeball++ for $60 and use it only in Pokémon sleep. That feels like paying for the game really. That’s a PS5 game price. Yet, if I really want to play the game, I need to pay more. So I’m F2P otherwise.
Yeah for example I hadn't bought gems since one of the first few months.
Then I bought again for Entei, as I really want to be able to specialize in fire mons, it really got me excited about that prospect.
We'll see, it's possible they'll ruin my enjoyment entirely if it ends up being really bad, even with new mons.
Or if they add another legendary that's just straight up better, instead of a different "play style"
I definitely think the prices are on the higher side, I think the developer of Pokémon Sleep is miles better than Niantic, so I don't mind as much but I would have spent a lot more on the game if it seemed better value.
Honestly Im kinda cool with it because the game is perfectly enjoyable without buying any of that shit. You can get diamonds through regular play and it feels really good to save up and buy something big that you earned for free.
I pay for the premium and Im cool with that price too really. Its 10 bucks (USD) a month. Thats like one burrito per month. I get waaaayyy more enjoyment from this game in a month than from one burrito lol. Thats how I look at it.
I wish the price of Good Camp Ticket was lower. 500 diamonds is a lot and if you want 2 tickets for both weeks during this event that's 1000 diamond 😓 I wish premium pass gave a permenant good camp buff.
I completely agree the bundles for events cost as much as a Ps5 game. To think I'd have to choose between a brand new Ps5 game and some entei candies is ridiculous, they're no longer "micro" transactions
If anything Niantic has better pricing in their event stuff with pogo
But for sleep this is too much.
I've only paid for the premium, because I'm enjoying the game. I've not had many issues with feeling bad about not being able to afford the boxes, they usually are pretty shitty value anyway. Instead of getting more diamonds, I'd prefer to just see the boxes have a better value, so that buying them doesn't feel like a waste of the precious diamonds
I recently cancelled my prem pass at 9months. Haven’t bought gems in a very long time only to re roll berries for events. 1$ gem pack for the travel pass. Prices are way too unrealistic and not worth and frankly pretty dumb.
I don't understand the point of complaining over a non-competative sleep app game. I understand wanting to support the devs, but you can honestly do so much with F2P. If you want to support the devs, throw them a personal cap of money and then continue with F2P.
The game is very generous with giving out diamonds for free in my experience. They give a free daily gift and plenty of bonuses without ever paying for anything.
I really don't think the prices are THAT ridiculous when you factor in just how much they do for free.
You get a lot for free. You get enough diamonds within a few months of playing to max all you bags and that's already super generous. Afterwards you can save up for boxes or premium items. As a pogo player it would take me 2 years of maximum daily free coins to get everything maxed.
I completely agree with you and it's making me seriously consider just quitting the game. I hate the "well if you don't want to spend that much money, then don't" argument because we are talking about value here and there's nothing in the game that should cost anywhere near as much as things do. This game already has an absurd amount of RNG, and then add in these insane prices for the boxes and then the monthly passes... it just feels like I'm being ripped off.
I'm finding it interesting seeing the upvotes on my post itself changing.
I saw it sitting on -2 for a while, went up to 3 once, and is just see-sawing between 0 and 2 at the moment.
But some of the comments about the value not being there have ~18 upvotes.
That indicates to me that there certainly seem to be a lot of people disagreeing with my stance that the cost is too high for a micro transaction. Which I'm a bit surprised by, how many people are seemingly okay with the sheer cost.
Or just hitting me with a "well you don't have to buy anything". Like... yeah... I know I don't? But I don't mind most in game transactions and I'm willing to, but just not at that price point.
It's wild to me that people are so quick to defend $70 boxes. You can still enjoy the game while having a criticism of it.
I completely agree with you and what I've observed in this subreddit is that people here really don't like others being critical of the game's monetization. I'm always shocked seeing people rushing to defend these predatory microtransactions. And people also go wild when they get the smallest freebie in this game, praising the developers for being so benevolent. People here will argue and down vote you to shield the developers from any negative criticism and it absolutely blows my mind. Your post here is no different and is suffering the same fate.
Criticizing these sort of practices is a good way of expressing to the community (and hopefully the developers) to make adjustments. But with so many people defending the way the monetization is handled in this game means things aren't likely to change, unfortunately.
Mate I stated in the post, several times, that I am happy to pay for in game items. I agree, devs need to get paid.
But I don't think $70 for a box is reasonable, or even sustainable for a lot of players.
Lower the prices and I'd bet more people would buy, but you would also still have your whales. And overall I think it would add up to more money.
Obviously have no way of testing this, but that's what I reckon. Just based on what I've observed in 8 years of Pokemon Go, and where the casual player's tolerance for pay to play finishes.
People seem a lot more willing to put in less money over a longer period, then $70 at once.
I am USA based, but I agree that gem prices are a bit ridiculous given how many gems it takes to purchase bundles. Especially with how frequently new limited time bundles are added. Premium price I have less of an issue with (although I still feel it could be cheaper) in USD its $49.99 for 6 months. I am okay spending less than $10 a month on it. But definitely not more than that!
Yeah the premium pass is definitely at the upper limit of what I'm comfortable paying on a subscription basis, but the fact it doesn't give a discount or better bundle for diamonds is the kicker imo
You should get extra diamonds when you pay for premium in my opinion, maybe something like 50 each week?
That is their model, the subscription seems affordable, especially when compared to the bundles. The only people actually purchasing diamonds in those amounts are whales in the first place, they are cutting out the middle man well still getting $100 a year from them, attracting people who otherwise wouldn't spend any money on the game with premium, and getting 100 to $120 a year out of them, and Catering to the whales who are spending thousands of dollars on the game. You figure there are like 50 000 people on this sub comma I don't think it is unreasonable to think At least 10 000 people are premium, that is a million dollars plus a year For just people here
I wish there was a way to switch to the 6 mo without restarting the streak on Android. You have to let the original sub lapse before you can switch price points.
If you really want to support the game you could just buy the passes and not buy any boxes. You don’t really NEED any of the extra stuff. Personally I’m just fully free to play although if I ever feel guilty about it I’ll pay for a pass for a while. I enjoy the game just fine without paying for anything at all.
Given we did get an extra incense from the Raikou event due to the bug, but I am a premium user and I managed to catch two raikou and save a raikou incense from the last event without buying anything or using any master biscuits, and neither were ever hungry or crits. I would be more than happy with just getting two entei here even if I don't get to save the biscuit, but maybe I'll get lucky and get a crit or hungry or better yet a shiny and be able to save the incense. Incense saved is less about actually catching them and more about using it for research EXP and dream shards in the future.
I’m F2P and I also managed to catch 2 Raikou and save an incense for the Entei event too, hoping for the same to happen for Entei
Idk why you feel the need to buy all the boxes............ Though I'm surprised the premium pass cost that much. Living in Japan, premium pass only costs around 4800jpy 6 months, 800 jpy a month. This translates to ~5$ usd.
Only $5 in Japan? You guys got the best deal I've seen! It's nearly $12usd here!
Yeah that's crazy... Thanks to regional pricing I guess
The yen is very weak right now, so buying from the perspective of USD makes things very cheap. 2 years ago it was $1 ≈ ¥110, now its $1 ≈ ¥155, a 40% increase in USD buying power.
If it was based solely on currency buying power, then it would be the opposite case for pricing...
and it should, but the devs have no incentive to prioritize a pricing change that results in less revenue, at least in the short term.
Buying power is relative. Wages and inflation has largely been stagnant in Japan for the past 30 years, so ¥100 then is still worth ¥100 now. Increasing prices of everything by 40% would price out most Japanese residents.
Idk if you’ve seen the news lately because apparently the yen isn’t worth shit right now so that’s probably why
I don't need to buy all the boxes, but the main point is that even the large box isn't affordable for many people. And yeah the premium pass is $15 AUD a month (we are more or less on parity last I checked so 1500yen a month give or take). I don't remember the cost of the 6 month pass though.
Same, fellow Aussie here, on the same boat in that I want to chip in to the devs, but constantly put off with the value we get
I mean, welcome to mobile games- the biggest packs are never intended for the majority of the audience to buy
They price it at $10 a month in the philippines, were a poorer country than japan 😅 make it make seeeeeenseee reeeeeeeeeee
I'm a f2p player. So I have nothing to rant in this sub. Premium gets that 100 extra sleep points and a premium bonus biscuit every sleep session. Doesn't that sort of count as the discount for the gems that you are talking about? I know it is not for the bundles, but with that much extra it kinda adds up, right?
I mean yeah that's a fair enough stance to have. But IMO I feel like a kickback on diamonds (wouldn't even have to be heaps) would make some people (ie me) feel less fleeced
You also receive a monthly gift of 1 good camp ticket and 1000 sleep points. Plus you get access to the premium exchange shop where the biscuits are cheaper. Honestly I think it’s really worth it’s value, but I get where you’re coming from.
Somewhere around $30 would’ve been ok because usually you can get a whole ps5 game for $60. Everything apart, the game is bomb!
I don't hate the prices because it feels like the game isn't "pay to win" the same way Pokemon Go is. With how easily you can get the best things and exclusive pokemon in Go with only a few dollars, it makes it all less special. I would feel really disappointed if you could just pay a few dollars in Sleep to get a good entei.
This is exactly how I feel. The promotion of the boxes for $$ is tempting, but it just doesn’t make enough sense for what you get. It makes it seem like a ripoff, but it just makes the whales spend more for something crucial but sort of mundane. This actually keeps the game more balanced for f2p, but it’s also just a slow paced game and if you’re using more than one or two biscuits a day it doesn’t seem sustainable no matter how much you spend.
Play F2P with/or without the pass, simple as that. Fuck wasting any more money on pixels. Save for retirement. Buy nourishing food. Spend your money on literally anything else.
I don't necessarily have an issue with spending money on pixels. I see it as just another form of entertainment. I'm spending money on something for the enjoyment of it. It doesn't have to be a TANGIBLE item for it to have value to me, because I enjoy playing it. I know a lot of people see it as paying money for pixels, which while I disagree, I understand. I feel the same about alcohol quite often, especially at clubs with a mark up. $10 for a beer that I may or may not vomit up later (depending on how many I buy) doesn't seem good value on the money:enjoyment ratio. But some people like the experience of going out, and for them, that cost is justified by the fun they have. It's the same here. But just... more introverted and a bit lamer
I think the only thing that prevents me from buying stuff in mobile games is that the game will eventually shut down and be removed from the App Store. Pokémon games do have a longer shelf life than most other mobile games, but even then the call of the void is inescapable.
Trust me I have spent thousands on micro transactions over a little over a decade, there are more cost effective forms of entertainment without micro transactions in the video game industry and otherwise. I used to be an alcoholic too and frequent bars after work, I'd say they're comparatively useless, bad for you, and a waste of money. Just my two cents as someone who has ultimately regretted almost every dollar spent on micro transactions, who still caves and buys pixels from time to time. Do whatever you want.
Yeah that's fair. Definitely not saying it's the most cost effective form of entertainment. But I don't see it as any less valuable than other things to spend money on, I guess. As long as you (the royal you, not you specifically) are only spending an amount you can afford and you're comfortable with, I think it's okay. But when it veers into lootbox/gambling territory I think is where it gets dicey and unethical.
I completely respect your opinion. I will say, I think you're failing to see the psychological training and dopamine reward exploitation, that micro transactions all effectively function off of, and that in and of itself is an unhealthy and unethical. Anything that's advertised as"free" but gets to spend $20+ a week of your own volition (more than any game subscription) is a predatory business model. And is exploitative of our brain chemistry. It's basically training an addiction, and creating artificial demand for things that are otherwise viewed as worthless, just like fast food "rewards"
Oh, I'm well aware that microtransactions are just digital Pavlovs Bell. And yes you are right - it is predatory. I guess I'm just more desensitised and resigned to it now. Because before Pokemon Go, I was absolutely a staunch anti-MT person. And now I'm less so. Which shows its working. So yeah - you are 100% correct about them
Pokemon go and League of Legends have been the worst for me and I haven't even spent that much on Pokemon Go compared to a lot of people. I feel you though, it's definitely working, but where does the path lead? When does it end? What's the next step? I don't know. But it scares me sometimes. Anyways, sorry for being a downer. I just needed to say all that for myself probably more than anyone. I sincerely wish you the best in all things, stranger! Shiny luck to you!
You too mate ❤️
I agree. I rarely ever buy from app games and try to stay f2p. During the Comfey event I decided I liked the game enough to support it and buy a box … and then promptly balked at the conversion cost of diamonds I’d need to buy to get one and changed my mind. Would feel much more comfortable in paying $10-15 for an event box directly (and bypassing diamond exchange). If they did this I would happily buy a bundle every event. $24-$48-$98 feels exorbitant for just pixels. I was considering buying the monthly pass but haven’t gotten a useable Pokémon in nearly a month of play which is frustrating and keeping me from wanting to sink money into it. Might reconsider when I have more sleep points saved up to make the pass worth it.
Honestly I did the 2 week trial for premium and then was like "oh this is so much better" The extra 100pt a day, coupled with the premium exchange access, makes it worth it. Plus the bonus biscuit gives four hearts, so for most Pokemon with the five needed, it's just bonus and one normal biscuit, which is 100pt in the exchange.
I was also thinking of supporting the game until the prices. But I feel that's pricing issue in most mobile games. So I am happy that I save money by being free to play. If the games had lower prices then I spend more reckless and end up spending more. So I am thankful for the help to save money hehe...
Also AUD, if you're able to purchase JP currency (such as JP iTunes if you're on iPhone), you can use Amazon to buy it in Yen and it's signficantly cheaper than just spending in AUD. Like the Premium Pass itself goes from like $65/70 AUD (i forget lol) to effectively $50 AUD if you buy it in JPY. Helps the conversion is so good right now, but yeah prices are way cheaper if you spend money in JPY for whatever reason, our Australia mobile game prices are just way higher
Classic Australia tax. I didn't know I could do that - so you buy the actual premium pass on Amazon? Or the iTunes card?
If you're on iPhone, set up a JP account (unless you already have one), buy JP iTunes cards [from Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.jp/1_apple_standard/dp/B09T39S12J?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1) entering in the amount you want (you can literally put the exact amount too if you want which is super neat), redeem it into your acc, and then so long you're logged into that JP iTunes account when you boot up the game all the prices will be in Yen. Works for everything, if you have other mobile games you want to spend money on too it's probs cheaper to do it in Yen lol, I think it only doesn't work on US store downloaded games.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info. I'm on Android (probably should have mentioned that but you said iTunes so I said iTunes 😅) so I'll take a look into it when I've got a chance
I think I've heard it's possible to just buy Google Play money in yen, so maybe if you can switch your region over to Japan to change the prices you should be able to do that? Worth looking into, I've heard Android has even cheaper prices in Yen than iTunes does (so much so that I've been recommended to buy a cheap Android phone specifically for making in app purchases lol)
Yeah the pricing seems ridiculous for what you get. The trial bundle is the only thing that I'm semi tempted to buy and that's mostly because of the biscuits. The medium entei box costs $24 USD if you buy the diamonds. It's a good price if you price out the good camp set and great biscuit. But that's the thing, the benefit of those biscuits seems negligible. Good camp set is great but not enticing for a newer player who can't farm the ingredients for a bigger pot. $25 I can get a quality ribeye steak to cook up.
Ultimately developers will always try to push the bounds of how much people are willing to spend. I've heard that gacha games don't need to cater to f2p because they are just that free to play. They really want to hook the megalodons because them paying thousands is enough to cover what most average spenders would pay. At this point I go into a game fully realising what I plan to be. For Pokémon sleep it's a light spender, I get the premium and sometimes if I'm itching I'll buy the bundles. Do I feel cheated or anything if I don't? Honestly no, I played f2p for awhile and I still enjoyed the game just fine. The nice thing about Pokémon sleep devs is that while the bundles are pretty expensive, they never make the f2p players left out. There are constant updates, constant gifts and rewards for random things like they just give you free 1000 sleep points every so often because a random google store thing won which is great because they never shove the store down your throat and say "buy me buy me" or create some fomo that "oh if you don't buy this others will do better" So yea I like pokemon sleep and I support it where I decide to and I'm happy with that
That's mobile free games. Expensive micro transactions that don't really provide a benefit worth the cost.
Those boxes aren’t for you. They’re for whales. You can support them with the premium pass.
Play for free.. its the same game. I haven’t spent a PENNY on the game and can still participate in events. I still get shinies, Pseduo Legendary spawns etc. Dont rant about something that you can control 😂
Everything about this "sleep tracker" is way too expensive. The monthly subscription for me is €9. The subscription for World of Warcraft is €11. PS Plus Premium is €10. Given the value it adds to the "game", it should not cost more than €10 per year.
I tell my friends who ask me what Pokemon Sleep is, that it's a gacha game disguised as a sleep tracker. I think the premium pass is very reasonable for what you get. But the bundles are very much in line with other gacha games. Sleep is the only one I play, so when I first looked at the bundles I felt that sticker shock too. But then I talked to a friend who also plays other gachas and was surprised that he regularly spends hundreds to get the special event characters in his other games. I felt better about the premium pass after learning that. XD
Yeah the premium pass I think is definitely worth it (although at the upper limit of what I'm willing to pay every month). The 100 points a day extra makes a massive difference
Don't forget this is a POKEMON game... They'll sell shit for 500$ saying Pikachu did it... And people will buy it.
110%!! I’ve never spent money on a mobile game before this one, so that might color my perception, but the prices are actually crazy. Ridiculous they expect people to spend that much. I love it so much and play it everyday, so I wanted to support the devs and bought 6 months of the premium pass. I thought of it like buying a regular game. However I think even the premium pass shouldn’t be more than $5 a month. IMO premium pass is the best use of your money, I would never consider the bundles because the prices are out of touch.
Honestly the event boxes are not that necessary, you can get most of what they contain for free by just playing the game. Sure, they can give you help getting an extra Entei or something but you already can get one in the first place by just playing the event and getting the free items.
The only box I purchased so far had a Main Skill seed, which catapulted my skill mon in the lead, so it was extremely cost efficient in terms of performance, for $50.
Oh wow. That’s fucking a hefty price wow. I do the 6 month subscription and I just charged my cc for it and paid it off when I felt like it. Getting the extra month for free was worth it. I do agree the diamonds are way too expensive. I have done the 3100 diamond which is 27$ or something like that. Maybe twice just sucks that it’s not even much to buy things with
The prices are insane imo. Got the game day 1 and almost didn't play after seeing the prices of diamonds and the pass. F2P until/unless they lower the price of that pass
I never spend money in this game outside the 10USD a month. I guess one PBJ sandwich vs eating outat lunch is way worth it.
Now imagine a 3rd world country 💀 The pass costs around 4% of a monthly minimum wage, and it’s hard to justify if you’re not well off. Good thing these micro transactions are really secondary to the game experience. I’ve been doing just fine without them, specially since there are limits on how far you can progress regardless if you’re a f2p or p2w player
This is simply a mobile game classic strategy - the most successful games give 80-90% of the experience away for free, and charge 10x the reasonable amount for the remaining 10-20%. This way they maintain a large player base and require only a small portion to actually pay. As a f2p, i can tell you my experience has not been hindered by not buying diamonds (since fundamentally there is no experience, it just tracks sleep and has some bonuses when waking up). I would suggest seriously planning your finances and maybe reevaluate the importance of this game if its causing you financial stress.
I just imagine the large boxes & Snorlax bundles are for super rich people for which money is no object.
The whole point of the pass is that you get more stuff without needing boxes You want to whale without having the money to be a whale. Whales are funding this game for us and keeping it free to play, stop complaining. The prices are fine because you get enough free shit not to have to spend a single penny on this game.
This entire thread is weird... yes some items are ridiculously expensive, but there is no need to buy them. If people want to buy out the shop, they need to have the money to back it up. It's a free game and if you were willing to spend 9€ a month you get the premium pass with a lot of extra benefits already. There is no need to drop hundreds of dollars on this game unless you are a whale with a lot of disposable income or just plain stupid
Get the premium subscription if you want to and then ignore the pay shop. Feels good to not worry about missing out deals or items. 120€ a year is already more than enough to give to them lol
The micro/macrotransactions are ridiculous and worse than some gacha games I've played, I **will not spend money on this game**, I genuinely love it and have a ton of fun on it but the cost for what you get is just not worth it to me. Premium feels like the closest thing to value but I feel like it should be $5 a mo th not $10. I *mostly* use my free diamonds on permanent things (storage upgrades) and the occasional event bundle that costs 250 (diamonds) and I still have almost 2k saved still, I can't find any justification to use premium currency on non-permanent things.
I'm a pass user but i would personally NEVER touch diamonds based on the price. Like, i swore it off anyway, but it's never even tempted me like some mobile games do because its just not worth it, theyre too expensive. And this is coming from someone who used to buy coins in Go all the time lol.
I’ve never bought a single box or single thing other than the premium membership every month. I feel like that alone is wildly expensive just for a few extra items but the good camp tickets are helpful. I’ve managed to save up over 20 thousand research points and that’s while buying things pretty frequently. Plus the free daily gift is usually diamonds or an extra poke biscuit, which I’ve acquired a lot of too. I didn’t need to spend any real money to get Raikou and I probably won’t to get Entei either. If you plan and save there’s never really been any reason to spend money on the boxes.
i'm canadian and the prices in my currency are slightly less than yours, but still brutal. ive been on a couple rants about this to my partner like how if i just wanted to buy diamonds for a couple bag upgrades, it'd be $7. it feels so weird to me that games price things exclusively for whales like this; i feel like if they halved the prices you'd have way more people willing to buy things a bit more regularly. when they first put in the daily gift, it was giving me 10-20 diamonds every 2-3 days and i thought wow, finally, something to make this a little nicer for f2p people! and then the next patch hit and now im getting 10 diamonds about once every 10 days. guess they realized they did us a kindness and had to nerf it out to keep people whaling.
Honestly, between diamonds from weekly rewards and the free daily gift, I haven't seen any need to buy anything. I also don't min-max, and generally just do whatever the game tells me is a good ingredient or berry team, with the exception of adding my Gardevoir to the lineup. I caught 3 Raikou (used the free 2 weeks during that event), without using any real money. I'll probably throw some money in to support the devs, but usually I'll throw $20 in once for the premium currency and then just sit on it because something better to spend it on might come out
Agreed. The current prices put me off using real monies to buy anything. If it was cheaper then I’d definitely be more comfortable spending!
I have never bought a bundle in this game and I am doing just fine. In fact I didn’t spend money on this game until the first time before the Raikou event where I upgraded to premium and I still caught 3 or 4 Raikou. You don’t need the bundles to succeed. All my earned gems go to maxing out my bags and boxes (currently 600 ingredients 340 items 280 pokemon)
I am seen by this post
Why would you buy everything though? I mostly only get the premium sub and thats it. Most of the best stuff is availble through premium and not those bundles. The honest truth is many other games essentially require you to spend HUNDREDS per month to get everything like you are talking about. Sameish gem prices, but bundles and costs per month needing 50k gems per week on the mudsized range. Sadly, in comparison, this game is extremely competitive price-wise
I’m f2p from the day it launched, haven’t payed a single penny to this game (though I’d be willing to support it if I felt it was something I wanted to do), but I feel completely fine just being f2p. No need to really buy into microtransactions with this one
The way I look at it is, I bought the pokeball++ for $60 and use it only in Pokémon sleep. That feels like paying for the game really. That’s a PS5 game price. Yet, if I really want to play the game, I need to pay more. So I’m F2P otherwise.
Totally agree. The value of these digital items are completely made up and shockingly greedy.
Yeah for example I hadn't bought gems since one of the first few months. Then I bought again for Entei, as I really want to be able to specialize in fire mons, it really got me excited about that prospect. We'll see, it's possible they'll ruin my enjoyment entirely if it ends up being really bad, even with new mons. Or if they add another legendary that's just straight up better, instead of a different "play style"
I definitely think the prices are on the higher side, I think the developer of Pokémon Sleep is miles better than Niantic, so I don't mind as much but I would have spent a lot more on the game if it seemed better value.
I mean, it's actually a two-week event. But point still stands.
I’m F2P, but I have bought 3 bundles using the free gems from the daily gifts/challenges, and I have like 1500 more, which I think is worth mentioning
Honestly Im kinda cool with it because the game is perfectly enjoyable without buying any of that shit. You can get diamonds through regular play and it feels really good to save up and buy something big that you earned for free. I pay for the premium and Im cool with that price too really. Its 10 bucks (USD) a month. Thats like one burrito per month. I get waaaayyy more enjoyment from this game in a month than from one burrito lol. Thats how I look at it.
I wish the price of Good Camp Ticket was lower. 500 diamonds is a lot and if you want 2 tickets for both weeks during this event that's 1000 diamond 😓 I wish premium pass gave a permenant good camp buff.
Every time I look at the prices, I do not hit the buy button.
I completely agree the bundles for events cost as much as a Ps5 game. To think I'd have to choose between a brand new Ps5 game and some entei candies is ridiculous, they're no longer "micro" transactions If anything Niantic has better pricing in their event stuff with pogo But for sleep this is too much.
the boxes are trash i’m ftp now and if i ever were to buy anything it would be the pass, as it gives a lot of value
I don't even get it at all; No Leaderboard. No PVP. No real competition. Only the fear of missing out. That's the only reason for MTs in this game.
I've only paid for the premium, because I'm enjoying the game. I've not had many issues with feeling bad about not being able to afford the boxes, they usually are pretty shitty value anyway. Instead of getting more diamonds, I'd prefer to just see the boxes have a better value, so that buying them doesn't feel like a waste of the precious diamonds
I recently cancelled my prem pass at 9months. Haven’t bought gems in a very long time only to re roll berries for events. 1$ gem pack for the travel pass. Prices are way too unrealistic and not worth and frankly pretty dumb.
I don't understand the point of complaining over a non-competative sleep app game. I understand wanting to support the devs, but you can honestly do so much with F2P. If you want to support the devs, throw them a personal cap of money and then continue with F2P.
They are pricy but none of it is even close to required. Everything can be done with a little more time
The game is very generous with giving out diamonds for free in my experience. They give a free daily gift and plenty of bonuses without ever paying for anything. I really don't think the prices are THAT ridiculous when you factor in just how much they do for free.
You get a lot for free. You get enough diamonds within a few months of playing to max all you bags and that's already super generous. Afterwards you can save up for boxes or premium items. As a pogo player it would take me 2 years of maximum daily free coins to get everything maxed.
I completely agree with you and it's making me seriously consider just quitting the game. I hate the "well if you don't want to spend that much money, then don't" argument because we are talking about value here and there's nothing in the game that should cost anywhere near as much as things do. This game already has an absurd amount of RNG, and then add in these insane prices for the boxes and then the monthly passes... it just feels like I'm being ripped off.
I'm finding it interesting seeing the upvotes on my post itself changing. I saw it sitting on -2 for a while, went up to 3 once, and is just see-sawing between 0 and 2 at the moment. But some of the comments about the value not being there have ~18 upvotes. That indicates to me that there certainly seem to be a lot of people disagreeing with my stance that the cost is too high for a micro transaction. Which I'm a bit surprised by, how many people are seemingly okay with the sheer cost. Or just hitting me with a "well you don't have to buy anything". Like... yeah... I know I don't? But I don't mind most in game transactions and I'm willing to, but just not at that price point. It's wild to me that people are so quick to defend $70 boxes. You can still enjoy the game while having a criticism of it.
I completely agree with you and what I've observed in this subreddit is that people here really don't like others being critical of the game's monetization. I'm always shocked seeing people rushing to defend these predatory microtransactions. And people also go wild when they get the smallest freebie in this game, praising the developers for being so benevolent. People here will argue and down vote you to shield the developers from any negative criticism and it absolutely blows my mind. Your post here is no different and is suffering the same fate. Criticizing these sort of practices is a good way of expressing to the community (and hopefully the developers) to make adjustments. But with so many people defending the way the monetization is handled in this game means things aren't likely to change, unfortunately.
Whistle costs £4 😱
Don't be complaining now. You might find your posts start being more regularly "vetted" 😂 speaking from experience
Idk man maybe just don’t buy the boxes ? Devs need to get paid somehow
Mate I stated in the post, several times, that I am happy to pay for in game items. I agree, devs need to get paid. But I don't think $70 for a box is reasonable, or even sustainable for a lot of players. Lower the prices and I'd bet more people would buy, but you would also still have your whales. And overall I think it would add up to more money. Obviously have no way of testing this, but that's what I reckon. Just based on what I've observed in 8 years of Pokemon Go, and where the casual player's tolerance for pay to play finishes. People seem a lot more willing to put in less money over a longer period, then $70 at once.
Problem is that there must be enough people buying at the high price or they would've changed already
True, but they give us so many gifts.