Niantic Labs Reinstates Larger Pokemon GO Interaction Radius in Following Player Outcry
By Jack O'Dwyer
Niantic Labs has reinstated its pandemic-era increased interaction radius in Pokemon GO after a surge of player backlash.
The company took to its official Pokemon GO Twitter account to alert trainers to the change in the late afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 25. This announcement comes after a massive protest by players on social media under the Twitter trend "#HearUsNiantic" and one-day public boycott "#PokemonNoDay" earlier this month—as well as a Change.org petition which has declared victory at the time of writing with almost 200,000 signatures. The two-tweet announcement thread has a combined 25,000 likes and 600 retweets at the time of writing.
The change will be taking place immediately.
Thank you to everyone who made your voices heard. We’ve heard you and understand that this has been a welcome benefit to many players. We’ll share more next week. (2/2)
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 25, 2021
Niantic Returns Requested Increased Interaction Radius in Pokemon GO
According to the announcement tweets, the new radius will be 80 meters (~262 ft)—double its original and reverted distance.
The company thanked its players for their feedback and for making their voices heard. It explained that it took their concerns into account and has come to "understand that this has been a welcome benefit to many players."
Players were immediately overjoyed and grateful at the news. The replies to Niantic's thread were swamped with celebration and thank you's for the decision—though, several were certain that the company wasn't simply acting out of goodwill.
"Thank you for listening!! And huge congrats to the Pokémon GO Community who made this possible!" Twitter user and Pokemon GO Hub writer @KratosPogo wrote.
"Thank you for listening to your community at long last!" User @PoGoMiloUK wrote, "Together we can thrive & make Pokémon GO one of the greatest games to exist."
@Sahmirrah wrote, "You made the game so much easier for Disabled players like me to be able to continue to play the game [and] have fun yet still be safe. Thank You for listening to us."
This decision comes just in time for players to begin participating in five-star Raids featuring Zamazenta in its Hero of Many Battles form.
More information concerning future changes and the task force's potential findings will be released on Sept. 1.