Pokémon GO Datamine Reveals More Ads May Be Coming After All, Despite Claims To The Contrary

UPDATE: 2025/03/28 15:08 EST BY CHRIS COMPENDIO

Niantic Clarifies That No Intrusive Ads Will Come To Pokémon GO

Nianticcommunications director Mark Van Lommel provided ScreenRant with a statement clarifying the meaning of the lines of code speculated on by the Pokémon GO community. The company reaffirmed its promise of not incorporating "intrusive ads" into the game and that Niantic "added a written list of common ad networks" and "not the ad frameworks themselves," which Van Lommel described as a "standard industry practice."

We will not be bringing intrusive ads to Pokémon GO, not now, not ever. We recently upgraded a third-party library in Pokémon GO which introduced code that added a written list of common ad networks - but not the ad frameworks themselves. This is standard industry practice, but in no way reflects any plans to change how the Pokémon GO team approaches advertising.

The original story, as reported, is below.

A recent Pokémon GO datamine hints at an upcoming increase in ads following developer Niantic's acquisition by mobile gaming giant, Scopely. The game's lead, Ed Wu, has previously assured fans that the core team behind the title will be staying together in the aftermath of the acquisition, but layoffs at the Niantic Spatial arm of the company may indicate that Pokémon GO is about to experience a shakeup—and many fans are concerned about the direction the title will head next.

Pokémon GO director Michael Steranka has assured fans that there would "definitely not" be intrusive ads in the game in the future, but details revealed by The Pokemod Group show that fans may have cause for concern, after all. The information acquired reveals added support for over a dozen new sources of advertising, making fans wary of upcoming changes to the beloved AR Pokémon capturing mobile app. The news comes in the aftermath of Niantic's sale to Scopley for $3.5 billion, an act that caused concern among many players.

Pokémon GO Adds Support For Many New Ad Sources

The Addition May Indicate A Plan To Increase Ads

Pokemon go and monopoly go characters over pokemon home screenshot

Although the news of additional ad support isn't official, information acquired through datamining tends to be more trustworthy. The Pokemod Group is experienced in delving into the inner workings of Pokémon GO, as the group is behind several unofficial modifications that make some quality of life improvements (like auto-selling items after a certain number is amassed, and many other useful tweaks). According to the information, the app is gearing up to allow ads from several new sources, including GoogleAdMob, Admost, ChartBoost, Yandex, and others.

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There's a chance that only the variety and not the frequency or quantity of ads will increase, but it's more likely that the ad support boost will lead to more overall ads. Fan reaction to this leak has been overwhelmingly pessimistic, with many long-time fans worried that Pokémon GO will follow the example of Scopely's other IPs like Monopoly Go! and become more reliant on ads for its source of revenue, instead of optional purchases through the in-game shop.

Increased Ad Support In Pokémon GO May Be The Precursor To Premium Accounts

Scopely's Acquisition Of Niantic May Cause More Changes Than Expected

In the few days after Scopely bought Niantic, both companies tried to reassure worried fans that the change wouldn't affect the games they know and love. Pokémon GO and Niantic's other titles would now be owned and operated by Scopely, but the games would continue to provide the same services and focus on the community, as always.

Fans weren't placated, though, with many scrambling to transfer their hard-earned captures to the Nintendo-owned Pokémon Home. The prevailing concern now is that Pokémon GO, Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom, and Niantic's other IPs will use an increase in ads to push fans into a subscription model to remove the ads. While nothing official has been shared by either Scopely or Niantic, it appears that changes are coming to Pokémon GOwhether fans are ready or not.

Source: The Pokemod Group