The Persistence of Pokémon Spotlight Hours

In the past, I had written about one kind of experimental event in Pokémon Go that has persisted even to today (although it was absent for a good chunk of time until recently). Today, there is another kind of experimental event that has persisted, and that is the Pokémon Spotlight Hour. As I've noted in the February rollup, the (mini) event involves a specific Pokémon appearing within the span of a single hour but in similar vein to a Community Day. This event may also be considered as having passed the "experimental" stage and becoming a regular event.

During the month of March, the experiment had continued at its regular scheduled time, except that it featured more Pokémon all around (with no specific featured species) at its regular schedule of Tuesday at 6 PM local time. At this point, the experiment can be considered to have concluded, as in April and May, the event started to feature specific Pokémon species again; some of the Pokémon that have been featured since then include Magnemite and Wobbuffet in April, and Shellder and Bronzor in May. This month, the event did take a break on the first week, but is otherwise scheduled to take place each week with a different species. With that regularity, the "experiment" status is definitely shed.

Actually, the "graduation" of Pokémon Spotlight Hour is also the "graduation" for the Mystery Bonus Hour, the other one-hour event introduced at the same time. In March, the event also continued at its regular time, but starting in April, the Mystery Bonus was folded into or merged with Pokémon Spotlight Hour, and the bonuses themselves weren't a "mystery", as they were disclosed along with the disclosure of the featured Pokémon for the weekly Pokémon Spotlight Hour. The bonuses have thus far have included double Candy, XP, or Stardust for catching Pokémon, double XP for evolution, or double Candy for Pokémon transfer, the last being a good incentive for storage clean-outs.

I conjectured back then that Pokémon Spotlight Hour has the potential to be diverse, and that has definitely been shown. The event has been able to showcase Pokémon that today are rarely, if ever, present in the wild, especially when intended as such rather than increasing Pokémon appearances in general. This is certainly a natural consequence of more and more species of Pokémon from later generations being introduced; as an example, Pidgey, which was very common in the early days, is now only an occasional stranger, and the Spotlight Hour for it helped those who may be interested in the species for any purpose. It also may substitute for a Community Day (or even, Limited Research) for species that are not likely to be fodder for it, or at least be a prelude for those who are. The decision to fold or merge the (not so) Mystery Bonus Hour into Spotlight Hour makes sense as some of the bonuses work better with a purpose, like the capture bonuses with a specific Pokémon. It makes things more effective.

What has been demonstrated from the "experiment" is that the Pokémon Spotlight Hour is successful because of its capability to bring up an under-represented Pokémon in today's world of hundreds and hundreds of species. The Mystery Bonus is also successful, but only with something else to do and not as a "mystery", nicely complimenting the Pokémon Spotlight Hour. Overall, the two experimental events show different sides of their success, and together as one, they are able to be more successful, and that is surely key in the persistence.

One year ago: To Hold or Not to Hold?

Two years ago: Variegated Pokédexes

Three years ago: Pokémon and Sports