The developers behind Pokémon GO have announced a series of changes to the augmented reality title including a controversial decision to alter Remote Raid Passes that has left many fans upset. With much of the world slowly returning to pre-pandemic functionality, Pokémon GO is focusing on in-person engagement once again  - even though the adjustments made to cater to a COVID-19 society were viewed favorably by a large portion of the fanbase.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began back in 2020, Niantic was quick to make changes to Pokémon GO allowing fans to continue to play the game while keeping safe social distances from the comfort of their own home. One of the most important adjustments made to the title was the inclusion of Remote Raid Passes. These gave players the ability to participate in Raids from a long distance instead of being in the immediate vicinity of a Raid location. Originally introduced at 100 PokéCoins, Niantic further incentivized players to use the feature by giving away free Remote Raid Passes in Pokémon GO for April 2021.

In a series of changes announced by Pokémon GO it was revealed that Remote Raid Passes will no longer be part of weekly boxes, beginning May 23. On top of that, the 3 Remote Raid Passes bundle received a price increase from 250 PokéCoins to 300. Coupled with this subtraction from the game, Niantic announced that it would be adding the rewards of Mega Energy and Rare Candy XL for any players that complete local Raid battles. Twitter users JRESeawolf, animefanatic781, and even Serebii's Joe Merrick are just a few of the voices that took to the platform to vent their frustration with these changes, and speculate how this might affect the community going forward.

While Niantic's original vision for its augmented reality title was to incentivize in-person interaction, that may need to change in a post-pandemic society. Location matters in this game and many Pokémon GO players in rural areas miss out on certain events such as Community Days simply because of where they live. By taking away features that put these players on an equal playing field to their urban counterparts, Niantic is further alienating a portion of its fan community, which could result in players stepping away from the game.

The Pokémon GO developer may be trying too hard to make things like they were prior to 2020. Every time a change is announced that puts a focus back on in-person activity, there is extreme backlash from the community because many of the proposed changes end up putting at least one demographic at a disadvantage. The latest group of controversial changes to Pokémon GO demonstrates this fully by not only incentivizing in-person gameplay, but also making it more difficult and costly for those who live in an area not conducive to the desired type of engagement. It will be interesting to see if fan backlash will be enough to make Niantic change its mind again.

Pokémon GO Fans Despair After Even More Controversial Changes

Pokémon GO recently announced a series of changes that incentivize in-person gameplay and fans are not happy with the pending adjustments

So, everyone in the Pokémon GO community heard the latest news from Niantic. Even though I’m inactive, I feel for the active players, especially those with mobility issues. As I’ve said in previous tweets, the best thing you can do is quit or at least go F2P

...okay, what the heck, Niantic? Why do you always have to take things away every time you add something anymore? This is a straight price increase as you also remove remote raid passes from the weekly boxes. That's kinda dirty.