Removing Pokemon Go’s Pandemic Bonuses Is A Mistake

As it had said it would, Niantic has rolled back some of the bonuses it implemented in Pokemon Go to make the game easier to play amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio had previously stated these bonuses were always intended to be temporary, so it was inevitable that they would one day be reverted. However, the decision to do so now, when the world is being roiled by another surge in COVID cases, is a grave mistake that’s drawn widespread backlash from the community.

In the time since Niantic initially announced its plans to roll back the bonuses, the pandemic has only worsened. Cases are once again on the rise in many parts of the world as new variants of the virus emerge, and many communities are scrambling to reimplement mask mandates and other restrictions to curb the virus’s spread. Removing these bonuses from Pokemon Go now and asking users to go outside, when the pandemic is still very much an ongoing threat, is a tone-deaf decision that harms both the game and players.

It’s not as if Pokemon Go has struggled since implementing these bonuses; on the contrary, the game has soared over the past year. According to Sensor Tower, Pokemon Go had its best-ever start to a year in 2021, with revenue reportedly up by 34% compared to 2020. Niantic is also coming off of Pokemon Go Fest 2021, one of the game’s best events yet. Not only was the event enjoyable, smartly building off all of the lessons that Niantic learned as it adapted the game amid the pandemic, but it was also a huge success. While Niantic hasn’t shared revenue numbers, the studio revealed that players collectively caught more than 1.5 billion Pokemon and walked more than 125 kilometers during the two-day celebration, dwarfing last year’s metrics.

The bonuses themselves made the game indisputably better, as well, which makes their removal all the more frustrating. One of the most beneficial bonuses doubled the distance from which you could interact with Gyms and PokeStops, making it easier to earn items and participate in Gym and Raid battles. This was a marked quality-of-life improvement, and it should have remained a permanent fixture of the game, but Niantic has since reverted it.

Fans, rightfully, are angry with Niantic’s decision. Across social media, players are expressing their displeasure with the bonuses’ removal and calling for a day-long boycott of the game, dubbing today “Pokemon No Day.” Prominent members of the Pokemon community, including the webmaster of Pokemon megasite Serebii.net, have even released a joint statement calling on Niantic to reconsider its decision and reimplement the pandemic bonuses.

As of this writing, Niantic has not publicly commented on the boycott, but here’s hoping the developer reverses course and reimplements the pandemic bonuses. Both the game and the community are better off for them.