Niantic is back in hot water in the Pokémon Go community after reversing a boost that let players interact with Pokémon at an increased distance. The developers noted that this change was an unintended bug and is claiming that the messaging lacked “awareness” when responding to questions about the decision.
When the radius increase first started going live in Pokémon Go version 0.275.0, most players did think it was a bug that would eventually be patched out—calling it too good to be true based on Niantic’s recent track record of unpopular content decisions. Not long after that, however, some community influencers began saying representatives from the Niantic confirmed this was actually an intended change.
That news sparked a rare outpouring of almost entirely positive comments surrounding the game, with players thanking Niantic for making it easier for players to encounter Pokémon from further away—especially for anyone trying to enjoy the game with a handicap. Unfortunately, that good cheer lasted less than a full day before Niantic officially stated that the radius boost was a bug and would be patched out.
In an interview with content creators Caleb Peng and SpeediestChief2, Pokémon Go director Michael Steranka clarified Niantic “incorrectly confirmed” that the radius interaction change was an intended part of the update.
Related: Pokémon Go community laughs at Niantic’s ‘comical’ Ambassador Program update
The update was intended to be “player friendly” and finally fix the issue where Pokémon would instantly despawn once the player moved too far away from it. Steranka noted that when creators reached out to Niantic to confirm if the changes were meant to stick around, that is where the internal miscommunication caused problems.
“The reason why [the radius boost] was confirmed as an intended change to a lot of the content creators was because it was an intended bug fix,” Steranka said. “But I think when that was communicated as ‘oh yeah, this is intentional,’ there wasn’t an awareness that it was actually the radius that people were talking about.”
While the encounter radius changing wasn’t part of the plan, Steranka went on to point out that the team is aware of the positive response that was initially there for that change and will take that into account moving forward. He did, however, also note the negative bugs that popped up for features like Pokémon Go Plus not functioning properly because the radius increase wasn’t supposed to happen.
Niantic wants to ensure a change like that would be appealing to all kinds of Pokémon Go players, which is a “tricky balance” that the developers have to strike with most of their decisions. Seeing something like 50 Pokémon popping up on the map may be something veteran players love to see, but Steranka notes that a new player might find it overwhelming.
The team can’t promise that the radius increase will be added again in the future, but Steranka said they are excited to test and optimize so they can see if something like that actually is “the right move” for the game overall.
You likely shouldn’t hold your breath on seeing it any time soon, however, since Niantic just announced a massive restructuring that includes several games being canceled, a studio closure, and hundreds of layoffs. Maybe it will be something we see in the future, but that is up to the dev team and management.
