Even with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the player base for Pokemon GO remained as strong as ever. Many players even returned to the game, helped by special features implemented in order to make playing much easier in quarantine without leaving home.
Overall, the majority of Pokemon GO players enjoyed the added features and bonuses. Some of these include increasing the interaction distances for PokeStops and Gyms, the number of gifts that can be sent to friends, and the use time of Incense. These features, however, are now being rolled back, despite the global pandemic being likely far from over.
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In response to the distance increase being removed from the game, many players have begun a boycott against Pokemon GO and other games created by Niantic. Many considered the interaction distance increase to be a great quality of life change that the game now lacks. The official response to this from Niantic has upset players even more, making it unclear when this boycott will end.
Starting on March 12th, 2020, Pokemon GO players were able to benefit from the newly added pandemic bonuses available in the game. The initial rollout of these perks included a one-time purchase bundle in the in-game store containing 30 Incense. This was to make sure players could experience the newly extended Incense time to a full hour. Eggs additionally took half as many steps to hatch if they were placed in an incubator after the start date. Players were also able to get more Gifts from PokeStops and encounter more Pokemon in the overworld without the use of items.
As the pandemic went on, more bonuses and features were added to the list. Some of these completely changed how certain mechanics worked, such as the removal of the walking requirement for the GO Battle League and lowering the requirement to remotely battle friends. Players additionally gained the ability to challenge any player remotely with a QR code.
To make item collecting easier, it became possible to carry up to 20 Gifts, open up to 30 Gifts per day, get 3x the normal amount of Stardust and XP from the first Pokemon catch of the day, giving out more Pokeballs in open gifts, and increasing the range of access for PokeStops and Gyms.
Overall, the majority of players loved these additions. Many new players even ended up joining the Pokemon GO player base with these bonuses being just a normal part of the game again. In response to these bonuses, Pokemon GO received an award from Apple during the 2020 App Store Awards in December 2020. In October 2020 however, these well-loved additions started to get removed.
The start of Autumn 2020 came with the announcement from Niantic that some of the bonuses added for the COVID-19 pandemic will begin to be rolled back. Not all of the bonuses were stated to disappear, just a few specific ones.
Of the bonuses to disappear, the one most players took issue with was eggs going back to their original walking distance from before the pandemic. With it being impossible to guarantee what specific Pokemon will come out of an egg, many were glad to not have to walk as much in order to see if they got their desired Pokemon.
This change additionally made it so that Incense would only have an increased effect while players are walking, Buddy Pokemon only giving players gifts if they are low on them, Buddy Pokemon only giving one gift a day, not making gifts guaranteed by spinning PokeStops, and bundling incubators with more purchasable boxes in the store. Complaints from players regarding these changes died down not long after, but they rose up again after the August 2021 bonus removals previously stated.
In response to the most recent bonus rollbacks, a number of Pokemon GO players organized an official date to boycott the game. This boycott took place on August 5th, 2021, and was named 'Pokemon NO Day' by the community. On this day, players got a proper response from Niantic regarding the negative reaction toward the changes.
This response was not positively received by the community. Nothing is really known about the "internal cross-functional team" or what proposals will satisfy the community other than the restoration of the bonus interaction distance. The wording in the response about going outside was seen as additionally baffling as players still needed to get relatively close to PokeStops before the distance was reduced again. The increased distance didn't let players access multiple PokeStops or Gyms from their homes in most cases. It usually allowed players to be across the street or around the corner. Most players still had to go outside and travel if they wanted to go challenge Gyms and spin PokeStops.
Even with Pokemon NO Day being over, many players have chosen to not return to the game. It is also unknown by the player base what other bonuses could be rolled back in the future with the COVID-19 pandemic still active in most parts of the world.
The current bonus rollbacks in Pokemon GO are only for players in New Zealand and the USA. It is unknown when they will affect players in the rest of the world, but that news likely won't come until September due to what is stated in the response from Niantic.
There are a few bonuses that are confirmed to be permanent in Pokemon GO. These are the first Pokemon catch bonuses, the GO Battle League changes, and the Trainer Battle requirement changed. Because of these adjustments, Niantic has announced a new feature planned on being rolled out over the next couple of months known as exploration bonuses. These bonuses are meant to reward players that spend time playing the game outside, getting steps, spinning PokeStops, and going to raids in person. If the PokeStop and Gym interaction range is restored to how they were in response to the pandemic, it is unknown if the exploration bonuses will still be implemented in-game.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS devices.
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