"Eggs as lootboxes: Should Niantic disclose odds?"

#PokemonGO: Over the past year or two events in Pokemon Go have been more and more focused on eggs, and it's easy to see why: In order to get a specific pokemon that you want, you'll likely have to hatch quite a number of eggs, and the fastest way to do that is to buy incubators and hope that you'll eventually get that elusive Unown or shiny Gible or Riolu from an egg. Niantic likely makes a lot off these events, which is why they keep running them.Niantic has never told us exactly which pokemon hatch from eggs and at what rates, which is arguably in violation of Google Play Store and Apple App Store developer guidelines:Google:Apps offering mechanisms to receive randomized virtual items from a purchase (i.e. "loot boxes") must clearly disclose the odds of receiving those items in advance of purchase.Apple:Apps offering “loot boxes” or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase.Buying an incubator to hatch an egg is, in effect, a "randomized virtual item from a purchase" and likely falls under these policies.There are a few existing mechanics in the game that are actually similar to what could be implemented for eggs: For example, the rewards for Go Battle League clearly state which pokemon are available to catch at your rank. Additionally, "prior to purchase" is not necessarily the best time to disclose the odds for incubators, since the pokemon is determined when you get the egg and not when you buy or use an incubator.What could Niantic do to comply with these guidelines? Do they even apply? When, if at all, should Niantic tell us what the odds for random events are? If they tell us rates for eggs, should they disclose shiny rates? Spawn rates? via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2OFgiyo