Niantic adds bonus Special Trades for Pokemon GO trainers after 2024 trading snafu

Niantic disappointed its fans in 2023 with its various controversial changes to Pokemon GO. And where one would expect them to learn from their mistakes, the company keeps making things worse for itself. From nerfing remote raid passes to the point where no one wants to buy them anymore to implementing unannounced reduced rates in remote raids, the fans have been put behind the eight ball on multiple occasions.

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Niantic acknowledges the Special Trade bug in Pokemon GO

Axew Community Day in Pokemon GO (Image via Niantic)

June 10, 2023, saw the first Pokemon GO Community Day event in the new update of Hidden Gems. This brought several bonuses with it, a couple of which were related to trades. The number of Special Trades was increased from two to three, and all trades would require 50% less stardust. Trainers from around the world were excited to enjoy these bonuses, but Niantic landed a blow below the belt on many of them.

People encountered a frustrating bug where any creature that evolved in 2023 is being considered a Special Trade. This directly affects the exciting Special Trade bonus the event promised trainers.

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What are Special Trades?

In Pokemon GO, when you trade a legendary beast or a shiny variant of a creature of any rarity, it is categorized as a Special Trade. These trades require much more stardust than regular trades, but if you have a high friendship level with a fellow trainer, you can enjoy added stardust discounts.

Special Trades have the following stardust costs:

• Unowned legendary or shiny variants of any beast: 1000000 for Good Friends (you would have to be friends for one day), 800000 for Great Friends (you would have to be friends for seven days), 80000 for Ultra Friends (you would have to be friends for 30 days), and 40000 for Best Friends (you would have to be friends for 90 days).
• Owned legendary or shiny variants of any beast: 20000 for Good Friends, 16000 for Great Friends, 1600 for Ultra Friends, and 800 for Best Friends.

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Niantic’s compensation for the Special Trade bug in Pokemon GO

Niantic’s support team on Twitter acknowledged this major bug in the trading system and said that they are "currently investigating" the issue. This got trainers hot under their collars, and to ease the tension amongst its fans, the company has offered additional bonuses.

Firstly, trainers could do five Special Trades instead of three on the Axew Community Day. In addition, they increased the number of Special Trades from three to four per day indefinitely until the trade bug is fixed.