Overview
- On Thursday, roughly 1,000–2,000 invited players gathered in Times Square for a livestreamed 10th‑anniversary Unity Raid that recreated the game’s original trailer with Mega Mewtwo Y on the billboards.
- Attendees—mostly influencers, press, and community ambassadors—were able to catch a Times Square‑branded Mewtwo guaranteed to have perfect Individual Values (a “Hundo”), an unusual reward that is normally rare in the game.
- News of the guaranteed Hundo spread quickly and prompted strong online criticism from longtime players who said the perfect‑stat reward felt exclusionary compared with past in‑person perks like cosmetic items or early access.
- Scopely and Pokémon officials said the stunt required years of engineering work and months of coordination with local authorities and billboard operators, and they tied the moment to a free Global GO Fest rolling out Mega Mewtwo X/Y and new Super Mega Raids to all players on July 11–12.
- Live events are a major engagement and revenue driver for Pokémon Go, and the backlash highlights a trade‑off Scopely faces between staging high‑profile, ticketed spectacles and keeping rewards and experiences accessible to the broader player community.