Former Niantic Insider Reveals the Untapped Potential of Pokemon GO - You Won't Believe What They Rejected!

Highlights

A former Niantic employee claims that the company rejected quality-of-life improvements in Pokemon GO, frustrating players.

Niantic initially implemented adjustments to support players during the COVID-19 pandemic, but subsequently rolled back certain enhancements.

Poor communication and excessive monetization within the game have resulted in players feeling disconnected from Niantic.

A former employee of Niantic has claimed that the company's leadership consistently rejected improvements to enhance the quality of life for players of Pokemon GO. Despite the game's continued popularity in the iOS and Android stores, its player base has become increasingly frustrated by the absence of essential accessibility features even seven years after its initial release.

Niantic has faced criticism for implementing changes that negatively impact players' enjoyment, despite the game's ongoing success. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the company had to adapt to the quarantine measures and mandatory shutdowns. In response to player feedback, Niantic introduced several much-needed modifications to the game in order to assist individuals who were no longer able to explore outdoors. These modifications included reducing the interaction distance for PokeStops and Gyms, as well as regularly increasing the frequency of Pokemon appearances through the use of incense. However, Niantic subsequently started reversing some of these improvements, such as reducing the effectiveness of incense. While some of these updates were always intended to be temporary, like the weekly discounted Remote Raid Pass, they greatly improved the game's accessibility and, as a result, many players wished for them to remain permanent.

A former employee alleges in a Glassdoor review of the company that their product manager rejected several small quality-of-life changes they proposed, despite the changes not requiring significant output. The revelation comes from a former client engineer, who worked on the game for over a year. They also mentioned that the rejection was not based on the ideas being bad or harmful to Niantic's profits, but rather on a subjective "feel." Glassdoor is a website where current and former employees can anonymously leave reviews for companies.

The positive aspect of the review is that the company is a great workplace for Pokemon enthusiasts due to the presence of "kind and helpful" employees. However, the reviewer suggests that Niantic should make improvements to prevent alienating the Pokemon GO community.

This review may not be surprising to many players, as there is a widespread belief in the community that Niantic is unaware of their player base's desires. One common issue is the company's lack of communication regarding game changes, as seen recently when fans discovered that Niantic had increased the price of Pokecoins. While players were not overly upset about the price increase itself, they were more bothered by the absence of any prior notification.

Although microtransactions are common in free-to-play games, fans of this game believe that excessive monetization, coupled with the removal of beloved features, gives off a negative impression. Nevertheless, there is potential for improvement as a leaked information suggests the introduction of a new feature called PartyPlay, enabling players to enjoy the game together with their friends. While no specific release date has been announced, some players are optimistic that this signifies Niantic's commitment to long-term support for the game. Pokemon GO is accessible on both Android and iOS platforms.

Source: Future Game Releases (via Glassdoor)