Pokemon GO amidst the pandemic: Exploring how COVID-19 changed Niantic's AR title

Pokemon GO's attempts to bring fans together during its 2016 debut were initially quite successful. However, like many facets of interpersonal life, the game was met with a huge challenge in 2019 when the global COVID-19 pandemic took hold. A mobile title centered on in-person activities and heading outdoors was met with a sudden threat to its operations.

Along with world governments and other forms of entertainment, Niantic went to great lengths to ensure that trainers could continue to enjoy Pokemon GO with social distancing measures in mind. This led to plenty of positive changes and a few negative impacts. The developer has since scaled back the majority of its mid-pandemic measures.

Regardless, it isn't a bad time to take a look at just how heavily the pandemic influenced Pokemon GO and its future.

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Examining the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pokemon GO as of 2023

March 2019 proved to be a harrowing moment for Pokemon GO and the world at large. The spread of COVID-19 led to the limitation of personal contact between individuals in hopes of slowing the infection, and it didn't take Niantic long to notice the impacts on their flagship mobile title.

In an interview with The Verge, Niantic remarked that the pandemic was threatening the game, stating:

"The current issue of Covid is existential to our game... And if we just continue on as we’ve been continuing on and build features and sit on them until Covid’s over, that wouldn’t be right by our players." - Matt Slemon, Niantic product manager, December 2020

Since in-person gameplay was no longer viable, Niantic made concessions to allow trainers to enjoy Pokemon GO from the comfort of their homes or while outdoors and minding social distancing practices. This included increasing the effectiveness and duration of Incense, allowing trainers to attract and catch Pokemon without roaming high-population areas.

The most well-received change by Niantic was arguably the introduction of Remote Raid Passes. These items allowed players to continue raiding gyms and battling/capturing rare and powerful Pokemon from a safe location with other players around the world.

Even after COVID-19 abated in many regions of the world, remote raiding remained one of the most popular features in the game.

Well after the infection numbers had subsided in many portions of the world, Niantic kept Incense and Remote Raid Passes in their mid-pandemic state. Not only did this help trainers in remote locations continue to enjoy the game to a heightened degree compared to their pre-pandemic experiences, but they also provided enjoyment for trainers who still couldn't participate in in-person features.

The social impact of Pokemon GO was also huge for players enduring the physical and mental struggles of self-isolation and quarantine. Trainers who hadn't been able to see their friends face-to-face could still team up in-game to take on raids and other activities. This provided a sense of community despite the social and cultural flux that the global pandemic created for countless individuals.

Unfortunately, there were more than a few negative impacts that the stresses of COVID-19 brought to Pokemon GO. Even as viral numbers began to diminish, some fans simply weren't ready to re-emerge for real-world gameplay or had a substantial curve to re-acclimating to public and social life after an extended stay in isolation.

Moreover, the degree of accessibility that players in rural/isolated areas and those that had certain physical/mental conditions was eventually phased out. Niantic took steps, primarily in 2023, to reduce the effectiveness of Remote Raid Passes and imposed a remote-raiding daily limit. Incense durations were also reduced from one hour back to the pre-pandemic 30-minute time period.

Niantic's focus on returning to in-person activities may be met with a shrug by some Pokemon GO players, but there are still those who resented the change. Not only did the community at large agree that remote raiding and increased Incense time was a net positive for the mobile title, but players who required remote play due to health or living circumstances were likely hurt worst of all by the change.

It isn't hard to see why Niantic made the move it did, as imposing a remote raiding limit encourages more in-person activity among player communities, leading to more microtransaction purchases and location data for the developer's bottom line. However, that came at a substantial cost, and many Pokemon GO players who couldn't participate in in-person play before the pandemic gave up on playing.

Moreover, some players who attempted to return to in-person gameplay were met with dangerous circumstances that wouldn't have happened if remote raiding had remained unchanged. Regardless, Niantic held fast to its position, and even a Pokemon GO community boycott didn't change its course.

This situation was complicated by some rather bad-taste tweets by Niantic, which was at one point called out for perceptively mocking fans who wouldn't "go outside" to participate in the game as much as the developer intended. This added fuel to the fire for many trainers, leaving some longtime players to swear off the game, believing that Niantic clearly didn't have its player base in its best interest.

All in all, Niantic made some very vital and smart decisions when COVID-19 was running roughshod across most of the globe. However, the developer's insistence on returning to in-person activities with an immense amount of vigor instead of keeping its positive changes permanently active has upset a vocal segment of the Pokemon GO community.

Some players have simply moved on from Pokemon GO entirely, while others refuse to spend real-world money or mock Niantic for the direction it is taking the game. This isn't to say that the title doesn't still have its appeal, as it still draws in millions of monthly players and revenue dollars, but some fans have simply tuned out after what they consider an overcorrection to the pandemic's paradigm shift.

Whatever the case, Niantic is continuing to move forward in Pokemon GO, remote raid nerfs/in-person gameplay focus and all. The game survived the pandemic with quality-of-life improvements, but many players agree that removing them was the final straw in a haystack of controversies surrounding accessibility and paywalled content and features.

It's undeniable that some fans will return to the fold in due time, while others will move on to other games. When viewed broadly, the impacts of the pandemic are admittedly a mixed bag for Niantic and Pokemon GO, and it's unclear if the game is stronger for it. However, it remains one of the most played titles in the mobile gaming space, and that may not change for some time.