Pokemon GO players are rekindling their calls for the return of free Holiday incubators after a nostalgic Reddit post brought the beloved bonus back into the spotlight.
A thread on r/pokemongo reminisced about the classic free daily incubators once rewarded for spinning PokeStops during Christmas and other holiday events, complete with players jokingly “burying” the feature on a virtual tombstone dated Dec. 25, 2016 – Dec. 31, 2021.
Holiday incubators were once a staple of Pokemon GO’s seasonal celebrations, giving trainers one free use incubator per day from spinning their first PokeStop during special winter events. That mechanic helped players hatch more eggs, and catch shinies and regionals, without spending PokeCoins on incubators.
And with several Pokemon GO events featuring limited time forms exclusively obtained through eggs, players can’t help but mourn the loss of the free Holiday incubators.
All I want for Christmas is Holiday incubators
Niantic quietly retired those daily freebies after the 2021 Holiday season, shifting rewards away from PokeStop bonuses and into other systems like timed rewards in the GO Pass and premium incubators. The change left longtime players missing the old bonus, especially as decorated stops and costumed Pokemon return each year.
This year’s Pokemon GO Winter Holiday celebration launched with a host of bonuses, including half hatch distance, 2× XP for catching, themed collection challenges, and a special Winter Weekend with no GO Pass point caps.
And in 7km eggs, players can hatch exclusive costumed forms of Cubchoo and Pichu.
Despite these new forms requiring eggs to be hatched, trainers are once again not seeing holiday PokeStop incubators.
Dozens of Flock AI camera feeds were just out there