Niantic has announced that new social features will be coming to Pokémon GO sometime in the next few months. Also announced was that starting on May 23rd, 2022, the shop’s 1 PokéCoin Event Box will no longer include Remote Raid Passes. Niantic did not announce that the price of the 3 Remote Raid Passes would be going up from 250 PokéCoin to 300 PokéCoin and the price has already been adjusted in the store.

New social features, as well as updates for in-person raids

Trainers,
Today we’re announcing new social features to help bring people together to enjoy Pokémon GO, new bonuses for participating in local raid battles, and changes to items in the in-game shop.

The new social features—some of which are based in a separate Niantic app—have been tested over time and will be available in Pokémon GO sometime in the next few months. Our hope is that these features will make it easier for Trainers to communicate with each other, discover new communities, and enjoy local raid battles.

We know that this feature is much needed and we look forward to making the social experience even better over time.

As of this month, Mega Energy and Rare Candy XL are available as rewards for completing local raid battles, making it easier to evolve and strengthen your Pokémon. Also, starting on May 23, the shop’s 1 PokéCoin Event Box will no longer include Remote Raid Passes and will instead feature a rotating array of items.

Trainers all over the world have helped Pokémon GO continue to thrive and grow over the past two years. Now, we’re excited to get back to playing together in person. To support players who have difficulty reaching Gyms, we will continue to work on solutions such as tools for community leaders to organize local events and faster approval for new Gyms.

We look forward to adventuring together in person!

Source: https://pokemongolive.com/en/post/changes-updates-in-person-raid-bonuses-remote-raid-passes/

Niantic should call these new anti-social features as all that changing having a cheap raid token a week and raising the price of the 3 pack remote raid bundle does is make it harder for people to actually play with friends. Many people DO NOT WANT to play with strangers in local raids. Setting up local raids with enough players will be even harder now because often remote players were helpful to boost the player counts to get a successful raid.

Not everyone lives in mega cities with gyms on every block. Also, many of our friends live around the world, 1000km's away, in countries that STILL have travel restrictions in place, making it impossible to play locally.