For those unaware, in a recent IGN interview, senior producer for PoGo John "Corporate Robot" Funtanilla stated that "when you use Link Charges in person, it's actually cheaper than using a battle pass, so there is some kind of discount there."
This statement is demonstrably false in many ways, so much so it is hard to qualify it as anything but an outright lie. Firstly, the cost for 200 link charges (the amount needed for a Super Mega Raid) is the same in the shop as a Premium Battle Pass (100 coins, 250 coints for 600/3).
Secondly, the only free way to earn these Charges is from completing the weekly challenge (600 Charges for this week only, then down to 250 charges), community check-ins (Unknown Charges), opening gifts (0-20 per 50 gifts), and event passes (Variable Amount of Charges). Even with the unknown amount of charges for community check-ins, it is unlikely that you would ever being able to gather 1400 Charges in one week which you would need for it to be comparable to the free Raid Pass every player is given each day. The only "advantage" Link Charges have over the free Raid Pass (from a purely F2P perspective) is that three super mega raids worth of Charges can be stored at once.
Lastly, as we have had max battles in the game now for over a year, it has become clear that for these additional battle currencies, they are never discounted as heavily as Premium Raid Passes. Raid passes can be bought for heavy discounts in a lot of different bundles, ranging from 54 coins to 68 coins per pass in the decent bundles. This 30-40% discount on raid passes has never appeared for max particles and it is safe to assume this trend of new battle currencies not being discounted will continue with Link Charges.
Now, with all that being said, if John had openly come out and said something to the effect of, "Hey, we are coming out with this new type of Mega Raid that has increased difficulty and rewards, but we also need a new way to monetize this system so that is what Link Charges are for, here is how that system works", I would have been a lot less critical of this new system implementation. However, I am getting really sick of these corporate types trying to spin something that is obviously more expensive as cheaper and better for you. To be somewhat fair, the Niantic of 5 years ago would have forced you to use Link Charges for all Mega raids going forward, so at least they did not choose that nuclear option. Interested to hear what the rest of you think about this.
TL;DR: Corpo shill claimed that Link Charges are cheaper than Premium Battle Passes when that is clearly not the case, not matter how you slice it.
Edit: Did not realize that the charges from the weekly challenge are boosted this week, normally only 250.
by hillside126