When the COVID-19 Pandemic broke out in 2020, Niantic made Pokémon Go’s Community Day events last six hours instead of three, giving players more flexibility. It was well-received, which is why the community was up in arms when Niantic reverted it back to three hours in Mar. 2022. They’ve been begging them to make it six hours again ever since.
That hasn’t changed in the 10 months that have passed since then. In fact, players have even started coming up with suggestions to make it work, such as making them last all day but limiting spawns to a three-hour period specified by a trainer.
That way, it gives trainers the flexibility they need without making it longer, and they won’t miss out due to other commitments.
The community rallied around the idea, especially after sharing their own frustrating experiences with missing out on the designated three-hour window in the current event format.
One trainer said they missed out on one due to a blizzard. Another said they missed out because of work and even considered taking paid time off just so they could participate. The thread ended up spanning hundreds of comments, with many others sharing similar stories.
Niantic told Dot Esports they reverted the duration of Community Day events back to three hours because “less than five percent of players played longer than three hours.” So, it was based on data.
But since fans have been expressing their dissatisfaction over it for almost a year now, it suggests Niantic might have overlooked something important to the Pokémon Go community. Perhaps they’ll re-evaluate it down the road.