Niantic, the developers of Pokemon GO, just announced that they’d be making some changes to raids to promote face-to-face playing. However, they also sought to assure fans of the game that they won’t be removing remote raids yet.
When the topic of re-introducing face-to-face raids first came up, many fans were concerned that it would mean that remote raids would be completely removed. Remote raids were initially introduced during Covid to give gamers a chance to play despite the lockdown. Since then, it has become a very popular feature of the game.
The in-person raid feature will be launching this weekend during the Community Day event. Pokemon Go game director Michael Steranka also told interviewers that in-person raids during Community Days would offer unique bonuses that won’t be available in remote raids. This is how they’ll promote face-to-face interactions between players.
Players can still enjoy remote raids for the regular tiers within the game; the one, three, and five-star raids. But Niantic isn’t shy about the fact that they are looking for more ways to get players moving and playing in-person again.
The developers are adamant that they plan to introduce new features and functionality to motivate players to get out, start moving and promote in-person play without retiring some of the remote features that players have come to love in the last two years. Some of the features being referred to are the ability to remotely battle in PvP GO Battle League and the game’s current location interaction radius.
Developers also said that at its base, Pokemon GO is still a game about exploring your world. This is a focus Niantic shares in most of their developments, such as their Lightship AR platform. While the pandemic forced the game to introduce features that allowed gamers to play from their couch, that’s not really where they want to be. This is why they introduce new features to get players back up and going. We look forward to seeing what other plans they have in store.
