niantic: we're taking away the 2020 pandemic features that made pokemon go more accessible for players. we're also getting rid of / increasing the prices on our most popular microtransaction items. now go outside and gather more location data for us to sell :)
players: wow, that sucks! guess we'll stop giving you money
niantic:
Special Favourite Thing ramble time:
watching pokemon go's fall from grace has been so depressing as someone who regularly used it to trick himself into going out and getting exercise.
for those unaware, pokemon go is entirely based around real time / real world maps and locations. this means you physically gotta run outside somewhere if a pokemon you want spawns nearby or if a timer above a gym indicates raid [a multiplayer battle against a single Really Strong pokemon] is about to happen.
during the pandemic niantic added useful features that adapted the game for social distancing and playing at home, and they came as a huge benefit for more than just the existing playerbase.
people who couldn't physically go to the location for a raid or didn't have many/any in-game gyms nearby could now participate in raids across the world with a new item called a remote raid pass. two passes existed prior, a free and a premium, but those could only be used if you were at the gym's real-world location. while the new remote passes did cost real money just like premium ones, they weren't terribly expensive and it was entirely possible for free-to-play players to buy one every couple days by earning in-game currency instead.
another great feature was an existing in-game item that made pokemon spawn where you were standing. it got boosted so they'd spawn with greater frequency and for twice as long, meaning people who couldn't go out to catch pokemon could now meaningfully participate in events. those in rural or suburban areas finally got spawns better than the five pidgey they'd usually get. this item also cost money, but was cheaper than passes and could be bought after a day of earning in-game currency. it was also a common reward during events and early levelling up.
additionally the interaction radius around your avatar was enlarged, meaning you could reach pokestops and gyms with greater ease to get eggs and items, and have more pokemon spawn on your screen. this was particularly useful as pokestops and gyms could often be just barely out of reach if they were slightly further than the sidewalk across the street from you. having it extended meant people would trespass less and didn't need to cross potentially dangerous streets.
when niantic started walking back these features in 2021, people were rightfully upset. these features brought some much-needed accessibility for those who could barely play the game to begin with due to mobility issues, where they lived, or other lifestyle restrictions. niantic assured the community that they were hearing the critical feedback, and then promptly went ahead with the rollback anyway. they then limited the number of remote raids a player could participate in to just a few a day and nearly doubled the price of remote passes. players who were free-to-play now had to spend four or more days trying to earn in-game currency for one pass, and players who could buy them simply didn't think they were worth it.
niantic's definitely not the first nor last company to pull this shit. i've been playin the game since launch day and just so happened to watch this shitshow unfold in real time since. it bums me out that niantic sidelined these genuinely beneficial, and very clearly profitable, features to instead focus on gathering and selling location data to third parties [but yknow, company is gonna company].
i'm still convinced the closest we all came to having some semblance of world peace was that summer in 2016 when pokego launched. it's hard to believe that was nearly eight years ago. i miss it. i'm so tired.
