1,000 Players Got a Perfect Mewtwo. Millions Didn't.

"They've basically shown a few people are worth more than the majority of the playerbase," one Reddit user wrote after Pokémon Go's 10th anniversary event in Times Square on Thursday night. Scopely Explore, the developer formerly known as Niantic Labs, flew roughly 1,000 players to New York City for an invite-only raid against Mega Mewtwo Y. Everyone who attended walked away with a guaranteed "hundo" Mewtwo, a catch with perfect Individual Values. Everyone else, the millions of players who've kept this game running for a decade, got nothing comparable.

The event itself was spectacular on a purely visual level. Every screen in Times Square was taken over by Mewtwo, recreating the closing moments of Pokémon Go's original 2015 trailer. Attendees raised and lowered their phones to deal the final blow, a Master Ball was used instead of the standard Premier Ball, and the crowd erupted. Ed Wu, President at Scopely Explore and one of the few remaining members of the original development team, called the trailer moment "a guiding light" for the studio, as reported by VGC. "It does feel a little bit like fulfilling our promise," he said.

But the promise Scopely fulfilled was for 1,000 people. Many of the attendees, as reported by Destructoid, were content creators and community ambassadors who received invitations in advance. The event wasn't publicly announced until the day it happened. And the reward wasn't a cosmetic background or a special pose or early access to a new Pokémon. It was a guaranteed perfect-IV Mewtwo, one of the most coveted catches in the entire game.

The Hundo Problem

Perfect-IV Pokémon are the white whale of Pokémon Go. The odds of catching one in the wild sit at roughly 1 in 4,096. Players grind raids, coordinate with communities, and spend real money on passes chasing that perfect roll. Handing one out as a party favour to a handpicked guest list is a different thing entirely. "An anniversary should bring the community together, not leave us out," one player wrote in response to the game's official X account. Players have flooded social media and forums arguing that an exclusive cosmetic, like the event background given to Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Chicago attendees just last month, would have been the appropriate reward.

I think they're right. Exclusive in-person rewards have always been part of Pokémon Go's DNA, and nobody serious is arguing that event attendees shouldn't get something special. But there's a clear line between "you had to be there" cosmetics and guaranteed top-tier stats on one of the game's most iconic Pokémon. Cosmetics say "I was at this cool event." A hundo Mewtwo says "I was chosen, and you weren't." For a game built on the idea of getting outside and playing together, that's a strange message to send on your tenth birthday.

Destructoid reports it has reached out to Scopely asking why the event was invitation-only, how attendees were selected, and why a guaranteed perfect-IV Pokémon was chosen over a cosmetic reward. No response has been provided yet.

Pokémon Go's 10th anniversary celebrations continue this weekend with Go Fest 2026: Global, running today and tomorrow. For the first time, the event is free for all players, with Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y available through Super Mega Raids worldwide. Players can also earn free Link Charges through redemption codes shared on Pokémon Go's social channels. Whether that's enough to cool the frustration depends on how many players are still in the mood to celebrate.