Pokemon Go interview: Niantic talks Routes, rural Trainers, and Remote Raid Passes

At the recent Pokemon Go Fest 2023 event in London, I had the opportunity to speak to the game’s developer Niantic about some of the biggest issues in the community right now, including the new Routes feature and the ongoing Remote Raid Pass controversy.

Despite being seven long years since it took the mobile gaming world by storm, Pokemon Go is still going strong. This year alone has seen several exciting features introduced to the game to keep players engaged, like Shadow Raids, Showcases, and the long-awaited Master Ball.

Another huge milestone was the UK’s first in-person Pokemon Go Fest event. Over an entire weekend, thousands of Trainers from all over the world flocked to London’s Brockwell Park to take part in event-exclusive features and share the joyful experience with one another.

That’s not to say the game hasn’t had its issues, though. Rural players are still struggling to take part in many new activities like Routes and Shadow Raids, while the backlash over controversial Remote Raid Pass changes continues to cast a shadow over parts of the community.

During a visit to Pokemon Go Fest 2023 in London, I was able to speak to Philip Marz, Director of Regional Marketing (EMEA), and Kim Adams, Director of Art and Production, about the current state of the game and what we can expect in the future.

Niantic

What do you think is the importance of having in-person events like Pokemon Go Fest in London?

Philip: Real-life gatherings are really at the core of Niantic as a company, but also Pokemon Go as a product, because it’s the best way for us to achieve our three principles, which are exercise, exploration, and real-world social. All of this is something we can experience today. The sun is shining, you just made your way here, went past thousands of Trainers who are having a joyful day both from a physical point of view, getting to engage with so many photo opportunities that are Pokemon brand-specific or specific to the things we care about, bringing people together, like at the Trading Post, or making them engage with the local communities at the Community Hub, or challenging other Trainers at the Battle Ground, or just hanging out at the Team Lounges or strolling around and exploring and making progress on the in-game experience we’ve put together. All of that is a testament and the best example of how we can support the original purpose of what Pokemon GO was built for.

We are mainly concerned with bringing people together in the real world and making them explore and experience their immediate environment through different eyes. ‘The eyes’ doesn’t only mean the phone in this regard, but also ‘the eyes’ in regard to meeting fellow Trainers along the way or others who aren’t actively engaged with the game. And this is why we couldn’t be more lucky or fortunate to be here today in partnership with the local city council. Today is a great confirmation also that this is the right path to go down for the future. Looking around and realizing that there are tens of thousands of Trainers playing today, both in the park and in the city. Pokemon Go is all around you. We are doing anything we can to bring these live experiences in the real world close to communities from all over the world.

A sentiment I hear quite a lot in the community is that in-person events like this are great and playing in a big city is great, but if you live in a rural location, there’s not that much to do. Is this something Niantic takes into consideration? And are there any plans to make the game more enjoyable for rural Trainers?

Philip: Absolutely. Being as inclusive as possible is definitely top of mind for us because Pokemon Go is supposed to be a game for everyone. We have always looked into developing features that address the needs and interests of players from all locations, no matter if they are living in a dense city area or somewhere more rural. Since Pokemon Go is also based on quite a user-driven content approach, where you provide the PokeStops to be reviewed, there’s an obvious reason for there to be higher density in metropolitan areas than in rural areas. But with features like Remote Raid Passes, Daily Adventure Incense, all of these kinds of things, we have also accounted for the special needs and interests to account for the fact that they feel underserved in that way.

On top of that, from a more community-gathering standpoint, we are supporting more and more this Community Ambassador Program where we invite players from all locations globally to bring their community together and raise awareness of Pokemon Go and support this social aspect of the game. This is something that has no limitations or is tied to metropolitan areas only, so Trainers in rural areas also have the opportunity to explore local parks and go to areas where the density might be higher.

We are definitely committed to looking into features and opportunities to support that. We have just delivered on that again with the release of Routes, something that is also addressing that need and desire, supporting both individual gameplay and group gameplay no matter where people are in the world.

Niantic

I’ve noticed a lot of people saying they don’t have any Routes in their local area and they’re not able to create them, either. What’s the plan for those Trainers?

Kim: It would be impossible to just turn on that feature everywhere across the globe, right? We were blown away by the amount of interest in creating Routes, so we’re trying to accelerate the approval process as quickly as possible so we can make it a lot more accessible. I will say, though, that during the first few weeks, we had Routes walked millions of times already. So it’s a topic of discussion every day, ‘How can we increase access and how quickly can we move forward with that?’ There’s a tonne of interest and everyone is really anxious to use that feature. The feature itself brings a whole new value to the game; it’s the first UGC feature, Trainers can help other Trainers explore better, so you can see a town through the eyes of a local. It’s a long-awaited feature, and so it’s something that we are very dedicated to making better and more robust as quickly as possible, everywhere.

You mentioned Remote Raid Passes as a feature that benefits rural players earlier, but there’s been quite a lot of controversy about changes to those items. Some people have even called for boycotts. What has Niantic learned from that backlash?

Philip: I think the main learning here is that there’s still so much excitement and engagement and dedication to the game. There’s a certain way the community got to enjoy the game during the pandemic specifically, and it’s in the nature of humans that whenever you make changes to something you’re used to, it does feel like an interruption to something you are feeling comfortable with. However, something that is important to us as a company – and also important for the game – is that Pokemon Go has always been built to be a game that is supporting those three principles; exercise, exploration, and real-world social. We really want to enhance that, it’s at the core of our mission and our strategy, and it’s never been different or changing. We have always been very clear about that. No matter when things get to a point where things are lifting up again, and we can go down the original path that Pokemon Go has been built for, experiencing or exploring Pokemon in the real world out there, we will support that.

The main insight and learning here was that we challenged ourselves to find more ways to account for the feedback that we have gathered coming out of that, and also ensuring that there are diverse opportunities according to what we just shared in relation to Routes and additional POIs and finding ways to serve the needs of everyone in the community. But since the community is so broad with so many different interests, the simple fact that Pokemon Go became a major game with lots of mini-games within, is also helping to address all of these. We are always listening and motivated to consider as much of the feedback that we are gathering, but we still want to stay true to the mission we have set for ourselves.

Niantic

There’s been an influx of great new features added to the game over the past few months, from Shadow Raids to PokeStop Showcases. Is this pace going to be kept up in the next few months or can we expect a quieter period?

Kim: It’s always a balance, we have a robust infrastructure and we’re always having to build new tools, so there might be periods where we have to shore up internally, but yeah as you said, within 10 weeks we shipped four new features. We started with Shadow Raids which brought people outside and increased in-person Raid activity a tonne – it’s all under the banner of community. Even Showcases, where you can compete with each other and show off your Pokemon, that’s been super fun. Obviously, the heart of Campfire is connecting people together in groups too. So community was definitely our focus, we wanted to ship everything about community right now. Next year will be a different theme that I can’t talk about right now, but this year’s not over yet. There’s something really fun coming before the end of the year, and then we have this blockbuster set of features that we’re planning to launch next year.

I think the most anticipated Pokemon right now is probably Arceus. We recently saw Kecleon have such a cool debut after years of waiting, so can we expect something just as exciting for Arceus?

Kim: I wouldn’t be able to speak specifically about that, but we always look to the successes of the past and what people have enjoyed in the past to inform what we do in the future. We’re always looking at community feedback from all different avenues, obviously, socials is a very vocal part of the community which provides super valuable feedback, but we’re also always doing deep user studies and focus groups and panels [to see] what new players are loving, what casual players are loving, and then of course what the Level 50s are wanting more of. But yes, you’re right, Kecleon has been super successful, so that’s something we’re looking at.

One of my favorite new features this year was the introduction of the Master Ball. A lot of people are wondering when we’re going to be able to get another one…

Kim: I’m wondering too!

I’m guessing there’s no timeline there, then?

Kim: It’s something we’ve talked a lot about, but we always have to find a balance between leveling up the existing features versus introducing new features and where we want to balance our resources. It’s definitely something we’d like to do at some point, but it’s like, ‘Where is this gonna fall within all of the other things’. But I’m really glad that you’re enjoying the Master Ball.

Niantic

Finally, we’re seven years into Pokemon Go’s journey now – where do you see the game going in the next seven years?

Philip: I’m glad you are asking about seven years, but I will take it even further and say it’s a forever game. 2023 marks one of the most exciting years in a long time, we have seen major features and updates making it into the game already, and you can rest assured that there’s more coming even this year.

The biggest milestone in the next seven years, as you highlighted, will be the 10-year anniversary. This is definitely something that is really special to us, where we are pulling as many creative ideas as possible to excite Trainers and also highlight the vision we have that we want to get as much out of the fact that we are collaborating with one of the most successful and meaningful brands globally, The Pokemon Company. I think we have proven recently that there are very smart ways of leveraging the brand and bringing exciting content to players without necessarily going too far into the developing side of things, and this is definitely something we are continuing to consider as we proceed on the vision to make Pokemon Go a forever game.

Pokemon Go Fest: Global will take place from August 26 to August 27, 2023. You can purchase tickets now via the in-game shop.