With the beginning of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, Pokémon GO had a very serious problem. This game is mainly based on going for a walk to capture all the Pokémon that we come across. However, having to be confined to our houses, this was impossible and only the Pokémon that came out from our home could be captured. Also, if you didn’t have a PokéStop nearby, all the objects were running out and there was no way to restore them, except with coins or real money in the game store.
However, to alleviate this situation, Niantic made a series of extras available to all players around the world that some are now seeing as they no longer have them.
What do these bonuses consist of?
Some of these bonuses were the reduction of the distance you had to be in order to access a PokéStop or a Gym. They also put free packs in the store or for a single coin that gave players many items.
The incenses also attracted more Pokémon to capture and our partner gave us more objects to walk with him.
Countries like New Zealand or the United States are seeing how Niantic has eliminated all these bonuses and they can no longer use them. Whereas before you could go to a PokéStop being 80 meters away, now you have to be 40.
Now the incenses will only work while in motion and our partner Pokémon will only give us fewer objects than before, which could grant us up to five objects at most for three times each day.
Controversy among the players
All these changes are causing Pokémon Go to return to what it was in the pre-pandemic era, something highly criticized by players since these bonuses are very useful for players, whether there is a pandemic or not.
Even so, some functions will remain as remote raid passes, which allow us to raid gyms while being anywhere.
Although it is true that one of Niantic’s objectives with this augmented reality game is to collect data on locations, this is not a good time to eliminate these bonuses that can perfectly help eliminate large conglomerations of people.
What is certain is that the pandemic is not over yet and there is still time for it to do so, so the bonuses should be returned to all players for security reasons , as well as to improve the gaming experience.
We will see if Niantic finally rectifies and returns the bonuses to these areas or otherwise it will begin to remove them in the rest of the countries of the world.