Pokemon Go Devs Seemingly Considering Scrapping Ability To Earn Coins From Gyms

Pokemon Go Could Be Removing The Ability To Earn 50 Daily Gym Coins, Leaving Fans Disgusted Published Jul 23, 2026, 6:43 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Sign in to your TheGamer account PokeCoins are an important currency in Pokemon Go. They can be used to upgrade your inventory space, Pokemon storage, Battle Passes and Raid Passes, Incubators, clothing, and so much more. Sadly, since the beginning, there has only been one way to earn these PokeCoins without spending your hard-earned cash: Gyms. With Scopely's mega acquisition of Pokemon Go from Niantic now complete, the buyers are clearly considering making some drastic changes to the game, one of which is not going down well with fans. A new survey has asked players how they would feel if they got rid of the 50 coins that players could earn by holding their Pokemon in Gyms. Scopely Questions How Players Would Feel If They Couldn't Earn Coins From Gyms Pokemon Go players can earn a whopping one coin for every ten minutes their Pokemon occupy a Gym, for a total of 50 coins per day. This has evolved over time, starting at 100 coins per day and dropping down to 50, but it has long remained the only consistent way players can earn coins without reaching into their pockets. Scopely could be about to change this. Despite saying it views Pokemon Go as "a free-to-play game first and foremost" and that they "would be foolish to try to change the recipe of what’s made this such a huge hit and a success," Scopely at least appears to be testing the waters on removing the ability for free-to-play players to earn coins, a fear fans have had since the acquisition was announced. In a new survey that has been shared on Reddit, Scopely asks, "If you could no longer earn PokeCoins from Gyms, how would that affect your Gym interactions?" Threatening. Naturally, even the thought of losing that feature has sent shockwaves through the Pokemon Go community. "Why would anyone interact with gyms AT ALL if not for the coins?" Said Knightforlife. Many echoed their sentiments, with quite literally dozens of commenters saying they would quit and delete the game altogether. It would be a disastrous move. Now, there's no saying whether Scopely would actually bin such a popular feature, especially with its earlier comments about Pokemon Go being a free-to-play game, and equally, there's no knowing whether it would replace it with another way to earn coins, but the fact that it is even posing the question has alarm bells ringing. Systems Released July 6, 2016 ESRB e Developer(s) Niantic Publisher(s) Niantic Engine Unity Genre(s) Augmented Reality, RPG