When is Shiny Jirachi coming to Pokemon GO and why are fans upset with it?

Niantic has announced Pokemon GO's next tour event, which will be the Hoenn Tour in February 2023. Players can encounter Jirachi in its shiny form as part of the tour's Special Research Story.

While some trainers will likely be excited at the prospect of Jirachi's shiny form arriving in-game on February 20, others have problems with this introduction. Specifically, certain trainers believe that a Shiny Jirachi should be considered rare, so ensuring that players obtain a Shiny Jirachi after paying $5 for a Hoenn Tour ticket defeats the purpose of it being a tough-to-acquire Pokemon. To voice their discontent, trainers have flocked to Pokemon GO's official subreddit.

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Pokemon GO Redditors chafe at Shiny Jirachi's Hoenn Tour paywall

Pokemon GO Redditor u/Horror_Ad_2920 posted a meme parodying Niantic's announcement of Shiny Jirachi's debut. In the meme, they remarked that shiny Mythic Pokemon like Jirachi are highly valued only because they are incredibly rare in the game. Here's what the Redditor had to say:

"Where does the desire to get one come from, if it's just a buyable?"

Horror_Ad makes a fair point in this post. If all players need to do is pay $5 for a Hoenn Tour ticket and complete the research story to get Shiny Jirachi, then many will obtain it without putting in any effort.

Traditionally in Pokemon GO, trainers would have had to be extremely lucky to find a Shiny Jirachi if it was introduced with the usual formula. However, Niantic giving players the opportunity to guarantee a Shiny Jirachi with a $5 paywall has left a sour taste in the mouths of many players who work hard to collect shinies.

Reactions were split in the comments, with some players remarking that this Jirachi inclusion was another example of Niantic paywalling rare or powerful Pokemon. However, others pointed out that some trainers didn't care about showing off a Shiny Jirachi in Pokemon GO and instead wished to acquire one so they could transfer it via Pokemon HOME to other titles such as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

Whatever the case may be, commenters were fairly unhappy that yet another rare Shiny Pokemon has been made inaccessible to any trainer not willing to pay Niantic.

The comments eventually led to a conversation among Pokemon GO players about why exactly shinies are so coveted. Since their inclusion in the Generation II Pokemon titles, many shinies were coveted not exactly because they have different colorations but also because they're difficult to find. This is particularly true for shiny Legendary and Mythic Pokemon, which are some of the rarest finds in the mainline series. However, if Niantic is willing to give away a Mythic shiny like Jirachi for $5, this brings into question the value proposition of shinies in general.

According to some players, paywalling a Shiny Pokemon is far from Niantic's worst offense, especially considering the other content that they have paywalled in the past. After all, many trainers aren't shiny hunters and don't consider Shiny Pokemon all that special. It depends on the trainer in question, but it presents an interesting topic of debate as Pokemon GO enters another year of content releases and events.

Niantic's decision to make some Pokemon accessible only to those willing to pay real-world currency appears to be alive and well in 2023. Players have recently been complaining about the developers taking a more profit-oriented approach, and Niantic appears to be staying the course with this Shiny Jirachi inclusion.

Hopefully, things change for the better in 2023, but the previous year's body of work from Niantic may indicate that they have no plans of altering their direction for the mobile title.