"Niantic has a lot of room to grow when it comes to communication with our players."
Pokemon Go developer Niantic has updated players as to the state of pandemic reversions and bonuses that will be implemented in-game.
The update comes after the developer appointed a special task force to look into the popular AR title after fan backlash over changes made in highly vaccinated or COVID-19 controlled regions such as the USA and New Zealand.
First, Niantic confirmed that PokeStop and Gym interaction distances will remain at 80 metres rather than a proposed change to 40 metres.
“The 80 meter interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms has been an incredibly positive quality of life improvement over the past year and a half,” the developer admitted.
Next, Niantic also confirmed it will introduce seasonal bonuses rather than updating the title country by country, using New Zealand’s recent lockdown as a reason why.
“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,” Niantic stated. “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.”
In summary, the developer said it “has a lot of room to grow when it comes to communication with our players.”
Pokemon Go is currently available on iOS and Android devices.
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