Niantic is continuing to kill Pokemon Go and it’s tiring
Niantic/The Pokemon CompanyNiantic’s decisions regarding Pokemon Go over the course of 2023 have continued to kill the game and its community. Quite frankly, I’m tired of it.
Since its launch in 2016, Pokemon Go has brought millions of fans worldwide together thanks to their love for the franchise. Trainers can band together to complete Raid Battles, harvest new friendships on Community Day, and more.
Over the last couple of years, however, Niantic seems to have lost its focus on community and instead has turned the game into a bit of a cash grab with seemingly no care about its fanbase.
Throughout 2023 specifically, Niantic has continued to kill Pokemon Go, and quite frankly, I’m tired of it.
Why Pokemon Go’s Remote Raid nerfs were such a disaster
Remote Raids were added during the global health crisis back in 2020 to give players a way to play the game from home but also gave disabled and rural players an increased chance to participate in Raid battles for the first time.
But on April 6, 2023, Niantic nerfed Remote Raids in Pokemon Go by doubling the cost of Remote Raid passes in the shop and limiting their use to just five a day.
Being that the Remote Raids were added as an accessibility feature for many, this change led to thousands of users deleting the app in protest alongside the #HearUsNiantic trend on Twitter.
This soured the overall mood in the community rather quickly, with many formerly active players still protesting the game at the time of writing.
How Pokemon Go’s changes led to The Silph Road closing
Just over a month after the Remote Raid nerf on April 6, 2023, Niantic sprung a decision that would end up killing the popular community website, The Silph Road. Big changes in the Ambassador program removed the support Niantic had been giving The Silph Road to keep it alive.
With the changes to the Ambassador program, Niantic ended its partnership with The Silph Road. They were monetarily helping TSR pay for the website hosting and such, so without it they were lost.
That change, paired with the overall lackluster mood throughout the entire community, lead to The Silph Road closing its doors. This was a huge hit to the game, as many players used their website to reference things for the game like Team Go Rocket grunts teams and more.
Pokemon Go’s Wild Spawn changes add to the player woes
Just when players thought the general mood around the game couldn’t get any worse, for some reason Niantic decided to do just that.
With the release of Pokemon Go version .275, trainers began noticing that the interaction distance with Wild Spawns in the game had been doubled from 40m to 80m, and it was confirmed by Niantic reps not too long after on June 26.
Fans around the world were absolutely stoked about the quality of life upgrade to Pokemon Go, as it gave many a newfound interest in exploring their area while playing the game. For the first time in months, the Pokemon Go community was fully united with a change Niantic had made. It was phenomenal.
Less than a day after it was confirmed, however, Niantic revealed that the increase was unintentional and will be reverted with the next update.
The developers stated that it was an effect of fixing a different bug in Pokemon Go, but the positive mood we saw around the community died yet again.
So much, that those who are still playing the game are completely losing faith in Niantic’s ability to improve Pokemon Go.
Niantic is still killing the game, and somehow it’s getting worse
As someone who has played the game since the minute it launched in the Google Play Store, I’m also losing faith in Niantic.
I’ve shared in the past that I believe Niantic needs to organize Pokemon releases and be more mindful of the release of events — both things they’ve yet to improve.
Not to mention the absolutely dreadful release of Elite Raid Battles, which I believe was the first time it was evident Niantic doesn’t listen to its community.
Niantic / The Pokemon CompanyThey’ve continued to remove accessibility features from the game, which is not something any developer should be proud of. The director of the game has gone as far as saying that the popularity of Remote Raids caused “unhealthy” behavior among trainers.
Which just leaves me to wonder what they’re thinking behind the scenes. Just how is giving more people the ability to play your game “unhealthy?” Why is Niantic removing positive changes made to Pokemon Go, whether they’re intentional or not?
The odds of us finding out an answer to those questions anytime soon is quite unlikely, but until we do — Niantic is going to continue killing Pokemon Go.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by Dexerto.