The game's developer addressed players' concerns.
Over the past few months, Pokemon Go players have expressed their concerns and frustrations over changes that were recently made to the free-to-play mobile game.
As a recap, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, introduced a variety of changes and bonuses in the game that made it easier to play and make progress without leaving the house.
Arguably the most important bonus was an increase in the interaction distance for PokeStops and Gyms, which allowed players to interact with these in-game features while being further away from them in the real world. Specifically, with this bonus, players could be up to 80 meters away from a PokeStop or Gym and still interact with it. The previous limit was 40 meters.
In recent weeks, Niantic removed some of the game’s bonuses in the U.S. and New Zealand as a test. This included a reduction to the PokeStop and Gym interaction distance from 80 meters to 40 meters, which triggered pushback from the community.
In response to this feedback, Niantic has once again increased the interaction distance for PokeStops and Gyms, but this time, the change looks to be permanent.
On the Pokemon Go website, Steve Wang, executive producer of Pokemon Go, said “80 meters (not 40 meters) will be the base interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms globally from now on.”
Wang also addressed changes to other bonuses, such as the bonus experience points players receive for visiting a new PokeStop for the first time:
“We went through a rough learning experience recently when we had to adjust the game settings for New Zealand quickly in response to their lockdown. This experience taught us that we are not going to be able to effectively adjust the experience on a country-by-country basis in real-time. Starting with the Season of Mischief all bonuses will be set at a global level and be tied directly to the seasons in Pokémon GO. You can find more details on those bonuses in our announcement yesterday here.”
You can read Wang’s full letter to players on the Pokemon Go website.
Are you happy about the latest changes that have been made to Pokemon Go? Let us know on Twitter at @superparenthq.
Brandy Berthelson has been writing about video games and technology since 2006, with her work appearing on sites including AOL Games, Digital Spy, and Adweek. When she’s not gaming, Brandy enjoys crafting, baking, and traveling with her husband.
