Pokemon Go’s Remote Raid nerf is “killing” local communities
Eleven days have passed since Niantic implemented the Remote Raid Pass nerfs, and multiple players have reported their local communities are dead or dying without the support of remote raiders.
Despite an ongoing boycott and a petition with over 100k signatures, Niantic went ahead with the unpopular Remote Raid nerfs in Pokemon Go. As of April 6, players can only use five Remote Raid Passes a day, and the price of each pass has nearly doubled.
Niantic claims this is an attempt to get Pokemon Go back to where it once was, used as a means to get players outside and raiding in person. However, with the immense difficulty of raids being too much for small groups to handle, players have reported in-person raids are starting to become impossible.
But rural and disabled players aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of the nerf. More recently, players have claimed that their local communities have started to dissolve without the support of remote players.
Pokemon Go communities are dying following Remote Raid nerf
Reddit user kyomage was among the many who shared how multiple communities they are a part of have been killed by the Remote Raid nerf. They explained how they’ve been an active player for two years and that, within those two years, they’ve become a part of four different local Pokemon Go communities.
“I don’t live in a city, but also, I don’t live in the middle of nowhere – I’ve lived in towns with 10000-80000 population,” they wrote. “During COVID these groups were very active – people going out and raiding – you’d usually get a couple in person, then support from the group via remote raids.”
They continued, “Since the remote raid pass change – we had a week of everyone complaining about the price change, and now, all four chats are completely inactive. The people who have tried kicking off raids in person haven’t been able to, as people now work from home or people refuse to pay the new price.”
The replies to OP’s post were filled with similar stories of players who were losing their communities. One user wrote, “All my Whatsapp Pokemon Go chats are basically dead. Sad bc it was once a thriving community. We are just sick of it all…”
And Raiding isn’t the only aspect of the game players are seeing negatively impacted. One user claimed they were receiving a fraction of the gifts they received before the change. “I’d collect/send out 10-15 gifts per day. Over the last few days, I’m getting 4-5, sometimes less.”
Despite the constant outcry for the past eleven days, Niantic has yet to acknowledge the efforts from the community. And if history repeats itself, these Pokemon Go changes will likely stand until players move on.