At this point, the coronavirus has caused many business, countries, and individuals to change a lot about the way they operate. Although the obvious impact of this relates to which business are allowed to stay open and which employees are deemed “essential” there are smaller impacts throughout all of our lives - including the world of video games (likethe cancellation of E3 2020).
The move to social distancing in many countries and extended stay-at-home orders around the world very well could’ve been the nail in the coffin for a mobile AR game likePokemon GO. This sort of game is built around exploring outdoors and gathering in medium to large groups of strangers to battle Raid Bosses together orparticipate in Community Day events. Just about every core mechanic of the game flies in the face of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, but Niantic has managed to adjust quickly and keep the game alive.
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AsPokemon GOmoves towards the end of its first month of social distancing, there have been some incredible changes to the game’s mechanics and the game’s events to help keep players logged in, engaged, and (most importantly for the developers) spending money during this difficult period. The game has rolled out some features that seemed like an impossibility months ago and so far it is working.
In the first weeks after social distancing began to become the norm in America,Pokemon GOsaw some major profits as players took advantage of the opportunity to play from home thanks to anincrease in spawns, improved incense, and quests that were optimized for players who need to complete them without walking long distances or traveling around town.
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Although we are certainly not at the end of the social distancing days yet, and many states and countries still have at least the rest of April left on stay-at-home orders; some players are starting to question whether the changes made toPokemon GOshould ever go away. Obviously, this is going to cause some major debate within the game’s community.
“As we develop ways to team up in Raid Battles from home, we’ll be making a temporary change to Gym interaction distance.
The distance from which you can interact with Gyms has been temporarily doubled, allowing you to be farther from Gyms and other Trainers as you challenge Raid Bosses. This change also allows you to spin Photo Discs at Gyms if you are within the doubled distance; however, it will not change the distance required to spin Photo Discs at PokéStops.
The idea behind the mobile AR game has always been to get gamers out and exploring their towns and engaging with the surrounding community to gain the full experience of the game. The recentchanges that Niantic rolled out toPokemon GOandHarry Potter: Wizards Uniteprove that the games can operate without that aspect. Now that gamers know this, how hard is going to be for Niantic to unring that bell?
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AsPokemon GObegan to grow in popularity, one of the biggest complaints about the game has always been how much easier it is for gamers in densely populated cities to play and progress compared to gamers who live in rural areas. The difference between the number of Pokestops, Gyms, Nests, and spawn points from cities to rural areas is dramatic and the gameplay experience is incredibly differently because of that.New systems like Go Battle Leagueare made with remote play in mind and do give rural players more options for staying engaged, but ideally rural players should always be able to participate in other activities like events, Special Research storylines, and days that feature increased spawns.
Rural players are sort of getting a taste for what the game can really be like during this time and it may be hard to undo these temporary changes without offending that portion of the audience. If Niantic’s revenue really does increase during the social distancing timeframe, it’s possible that the company may not want to mess with a good thing once the world returns to normal. Obviously in-person events could return, but perhaps there would still be the option to participate and complete them from home for players who are willing to drop some in-game currency or real-world dollars on remote raiding passes or incense bundles. It seems like it would be in Niantic’s best interest to keep the game as accessible as possible as long as there isn’t a drop in player activity. The datamines that point to remote raiding definitely suggest that is the direction that the company may be heading.
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At this point, Niantic has been very clear that the changes are temporary and are just in place until the player base is able to head out into the world and get back to business as usual. As the situation progresses, it will be very interesting to see if that remains official stance or if the company starts to hint that we are in a new era ofPokemon GO.
The future seems very uncertain right now and nobody is really sure how long these temporary changes are going to last. Although some regions are already starting to recover
For now, players may want to keep hunting downthe best Unova Pokemon in the gameif improving their Battle Raid rosters is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for morePokemon GOstrategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GOis available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.
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