A couple of days have passed since the beginning of Niantic's Global Catch Challenge, where it tasked "Pokemon Go" players to catch billions of Pokemon in seven days. So far, the challenge has been received well, and trainers around the world look to be on track to hit the three billion goal.
In the first two days of the challenge, "Pokemon Go" players managed to catch over 500 million Pokemon. On Twitter, the game congratulated players for reaching the milestone.
Reaching the 500 million mark also means that they have unlocked the first set of rewards from Niantic. These rewards include double experience, longer lure durations, and most importantly, more frequent spawns worldwide.
The rewards will help the community to encounter and capture even more Pokemon as they work their way toward the second set of rewards, which will come when they reach the halfway point of the goal, 1.5 billion.
The second set of prizes will include the double experience and longer incense duration from the first set, plus double stardust. Unlocking the second set of rewards will also boost the appearance rate of Pokemon around the world.
Once Pokemon players reach the goal of three billion Pokemon caught, an exclusive Farfetch'd will be available for all players for 48 hours. Additionally, Kangaskhan, a Pokemon that is normally only found in Oceania, will become available for all players in East Asia, but within a limited timeframe which is 48 hours.
There has been a sort of enthusiasm gap for "Pokemon Go" after its explosive launch in 2016. The popularity of the franchise, coupled with a somewhat new kind of gameplay with augmented reality helped fuel the game to earn a massive following during the first weeks since its release.
However, the game did not really offer much in terms of actual gameplay and player interactions, which led to lesser fan support in the succeeding months. With the Global Catch Challenge, Niantic aims to bring back the lost enthusiasm with a huge task posted to all players around the world.
