Pokémon Go is a neat little game, as the app where players can walk around the real world and find Pokémon spread throughout it blew up when it first came out back in 2016. While the mass hysteria has fallen off since then, there’s still a very dedicated community that continues to play the game religiously. In fact, over the previous year, it’s been a game that many people have still found ways to play despite the pandemic, thanks to a mix of features the developers at Niantic added to make it more accessible for social distancing.
When vaccines began being distributed, Niantic felt it was time to remove some of the features they had added to the game. However, this announcement was met by widespread backlash from fans. It had turned out that a handful of the features added, including the ability to access PokéStops and Gyms from a further distance, were seen as major quality of life updates. Not only did the changes allow players the ability to access these stops and gyms from a safer distance, many of them felt it gave disabled players the opportunity to experience the game from their homes. Also, there were plenty of players that felt the pandemic was nowhere close to over.
When Niantic went forward with the changes anyway the backlash against them swelled further, and some players began threatening a boycott of the game. At first, it seemed like they weren’t going to go back on their changes, but on Wednesday the Pokémon Go Twitter account acknowledged that they will be going back to the previous distance of 80 meters to access stops and gyms instead of 40.
Trainers – we’re looking forward to sharing our plans as a result of the task force on September 1, but one thing does not have to wait! From now on, 80 meters will be the base interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms globally. (1/2)
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 25, 2021
Thank you to everyone who made your voices heard. We’ve heard you and understand that this has been a welcome benefit to many players. We’ll share more next week. (2/2)
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 25, 2021
While it isn’t great that it took fan backlash to get the game back to a point where people can play the game safely, it’s good that they did go back to the “new” distance. As someone that used to play a decent amount of Pokémon Go, there were definitely stops and gyms that were in places that an abled person like me couldn’t reach without crossing the road at my local park. Not a big deal for me, but for someone that wanted to stick to the sidewalk due to a disability, or maybe they just didn’t feel they could safely cross the road, it must have been fantastic to know they could reach that stop when it increased to 80 meters.
Increasing the distance hurts no one and actually makes the game more fun. Decreasing it makes the game harder to play for some and doesn’t actually make the game better. The solution for Niantic was obvious and they went back to it when fans told them that’s what they wanted.