New Pokemon Go backgounds cause catch circle “glitch” for some players

Niantic

The new location backgrounds in Pokemon Go are causing issues with the catch circle for some players, making it difficult to know when to throw a Poke Ball.

The catch circle in Pokemon Go is a major aspect of the gameplay, as it indicates how effective your throw will be when catching a wild Pokemon. The better the throw, the higher the chance of you catching the Pokemon.

Fortunately, the catch circle has rarely been tampered with throughout the history of Pokemon Go. This starkly contrasts the rest of the game, which has received numerous tweaks and updates, resulting in glitches that need to be addressed in future updates.

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Unfortunately, issues with the rest of the game can affect the catch circle, making it more difficult for players to throw the Poke Ball when encountering Pokemon in the wild.

Pokemon Go’s new backgrounds are causing glitches

A user on The Silph Road Reddit from New Zealand has created a thread to report a glitch they have encountered with the new catch backgrounds in the game. There’s an issue that causes the catch circle to be sliced in half, only showing the bottom part of the animation, making it harder to judge when to throw.

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“It is a mess. I experience slowdowns whenever I enter the catch screen. Hopefully they fix it,” one user wrote, while another said, “I’m surprised that the backgrounds cause performance issues as is. As a 3d modeler, nothing about them looks remotely complex. Then again, Niantic is not known for optimization.”

One user joked, “Nianatic: “To get the feature where you can get the full ring experience, please purchase a ticket of $4.99. You get a total 500 full catch rings”.”

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“Any chance to disable background?” another user wrote, “Can’t catch anymore because lag. Two weeks ago same but Someday background gone.”

It’s unclear why the background is causing the issue, but it seems to be limited in scope at the moment. Once the background rolls out to more regions in Pokemon Go, then we’ll have a better idea of how widespread it is. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved before then.