Matthew Estrada-Martinez
28 September 2026
Scopely did a survey in July about Pokémon Go, more specifically about gyms and gameplay. Most players focused on question 21, which said, “If you could no longer earn PokéCoins from Gyms, how would that affect your Gym interactions?” This sparked an uproar in the community, as F2P (Free-to-Play) players are mostly affected by this, since this is their only way to get PokéCoins for free. Scopely responded, saying they don’t have plans to remove the ability to get coins from gyms.
Players are skeptical about this response, as it seems that they're saying, “We were only wondering; no plans were made yet.” It seems that they might be planning a rework or changing how coins from gyms work. If they are planning to change the way they do it, they could make the daily limit more than just 50 coins a day, as it can take a while to get items like the remote raid pass, which costs 200 coins. Also, they can make special research to give coins, as they did for Willow's birthday this year. They made Pokecoins available from research for events; why not make it stay that way instead of only for events?
If Scopely does change their mind in the future about removing Pokecoins, then there wouldn’t be a reason to interact with gyms anymore. This will also make some F2P players leave, as their only way of getting coins is gone and they won’t be able to participate in events. Remote raid passes are the only way most people use to join raids far away if they're unable to leave their homes or have work for it. Not only are Pokecoin used for remote raids; they are also used for getting extra storage for Pokemon and items.
The other way of getting storage is by leveling up, which takes a while to do, especially as higher levels have certain tasks to level up. Once players reach max level, there is no way for them to obtain Pokecoins without paying real money for them. If they remove coins from gyms, then there wouldn’t be a point in using them or interacting, as coins are the only reason players even use gyms. Also, it just seems that they are trying to get every penny out of their players. It just seems that they have backtracked on it because of the backlash they have gotten from communities.
