The developer of Pokémon Go is facing a player revolt after rolling back safety measures implemented at the onset of the pandemic last year.
Yes, and disclosure time: I play. I've really been impressed with the speed with which they changed the gameplay, and it's been very useful during the pandemic.
But it's not how the game was meant to be played, so surely a reversion to normal is to be welcomed?
Niantic, the Google subsidiary which released the smash hit mobile game in 2016, had reacted to the onset of the pandemic by tweaking how its games work. The introduction of social distancing and stay-at-home orders around the world made it hard to play the company’s augmented reality (AR) games as intended, since they task players with leaving their homes and visiting local landmarks to catch Pokémon, gather items, and fight for regional dominance. The company doubled the distance required to interact with key landmarks in the game, which enabled players to access them in-game without needing to physically cluster around the same spot in the real world. It also handed out free items to players, including “incense”, which makes Pokémon show up without needing to leave your house.
So why the angst? Well, it seems players have become complacent about the changes. And want to keep them.
The news prompted dismay among the player base, particularly for American users, for whom a new wave of the pandemic is starting as the Delta variant establishes itself in the US. A petition on Change.org has gained almost 150,000 signatures from users calling on the company to keep the changes.
And they've found what they think is an unassailable lever to help them persuade the company to think again:
As well as pandemic safety, the changes had been praised for making the game more available for disabled players: increased interaction distance meant that pokestops that were once physically inaccessible for wheelchair users, for instance, were suddenly available.
What will Niantic do? Watch this space.
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