Pokémon GO limits incubators, shop bundles for Brazil players

Pokémon GO has restricted access to premium Incubators and select paid shop bundles for players in Brazil after a recent court ruling targeting loot-box-style mechanics that can be accessed by minors. The limits vary by account and appear linked to a mandatory age-verification process.

Players in Brazil reported that premium Incubators, some item boxes and specific paid GO Pass bundles were unavailable for purchase or no longer worked as before. Paid Incubators speed up egg hatching while the Pokémon inside eggs are randomized, a combination regulators treated as similar to paid random-reward systems.

A Brazilian court found that randomized paid rewards can expose children and teenagers to gambling-like mechanics. Since 2025, Brazilian law bars the sale of loot-box-like systems to players under 18 when real money is involved. The court named multiple large gaming and tech companies in the broader case, including Nintendo, Sony, Google, Apple, Tencent Games, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and KONAMI, and ordered collective damages for portions of the case reported at roughly $58.4 million.

The ruling directed companies to add clearer warnings, strengthen age checks and improve consumer protections. The current restrictions in Pokémon GO appear to be enforced at the account level: accounts that complete age verification may be able to buy or use premium Incubators and certain shop bundles, while unverified or underage accounts face limits or removals.

Niantic, the developer of Pokémon GO, has not issued an official statement about the regional changes. Earlier reports that Incubators were banned nationwide do not match the account-level limits players are seeing.

Eggs in Pokémon GO are not sold directly. Paid Incubators allow players to hatch eggs faster, and eggs can yield rare, regional, event-exclusive or shiny Pokémon. Regulators cited that combination of payment and randomness when assessing loot-box-like behavior.

It is not yet clear whether the current measures in Brazil are temporary compliance actions or will lead to permanent changes to how Pokémon GO and similar games sell randomized paid items. Other companies named in the case are expected to update warnings and age-verification processes to comply with the court’s directives.

Earlier, we reported that Pokémon TCG Pocket launched the Everyday Wonders booster.