Niantic are reversing some of the changes they made to Pokemon Go as a result of the global health crisis. Unfortunately, this hasn’t sat well with trainers who have been left upset with the decision.
Niantic made a whole host of important changes to the mobile game all the way back in March. They have remained present ever since, but some of them will be reversed on October 1, 1pm PDT.
Those changes are as follows:
- Hatch Distance will no longer be halved
- The increased Incense effectiveness will only apply when walking
- The duration of Incense will remain at 60 minutes, however
- Gifts will only be brought to you by your Buddy Pokemon when you have nearly run out
- There will still be an increased chance of receiving a Gift when spinning a PokeStop but it won’t be guaranteed
In addition to Incense duration, the maximum number of Gifts you can carry will stay at 20 and 3x Stardust and XP will remain for the first Pokemon you catch in a given day.
Incensed by Incense changes
Popular Pokemon content creator Reversal was quick to share that he disagreed with the changes. Joe Merrick, another renowned trainer in the Pokemon community, agreed saying: “Doing it just as so much of the world is hitting the second wave is ridiculously bad.”
Same. Doing it just as so much of the world is hitting the second wave is ridiculously bad
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) September 29, 2020
Meanwhile, another trainer has implored Niantic to consider reverting the decision. “As someone who cannot walk any real distances, the ‘quality of life’ changes were the only way I could play the game anywhere NEAR normal,” Brenn shared on Twitter.
I really urge you to make some of these changes permanent. As someone who cannot walk any real distances, the ‘quality of life’ changes were the only way I could play the game anywhere NEAR normal. As it is, Pokemon Go is not accessible by so many people. Why change back?
— Brenn (@Traylantha) September 29, 2020
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However, one trainer is Niantic’s side in this debate. They point out that the Pokemon Go developer were one of the only companies to make big changes to their game as a result of the health crisis in the first place.
Are you kidding me. How are they greedy. No other company changed basically there whole game to help everyone during this pandemic. Don’t be mad about 3 small changes
— MarioYT?? (@Cody50924909) September 29, 2020
This is true, Niantic undoubtedly reacted swiftly. Nevertheless, it is completely understandable why trainers are questioning their latest decision.
Over at Reddit, one player brought up a more calculated reason as to why the bonuses are going to be reversed. “I really think the only reason they are taking this away is so that they can give it back to us as an event bonus,” repo_sado shared. “There’s only so many things they can give us for events and they can’t give an event bonus if it’s permanent.”
That seems a shortsighted decision given the backlash they have already received but is possible. It’s hard to say what Niantic expected the reaction to be but it couldn’t have been much worse than it is.
It will be interesting to see if Niantic stand down on their decision to remove the ongoing bonuses. Given the current outrage, there is a fair chance they will.
