In Pokémon GO, first players are reporting various PokéStop disappearances in their area. What happened there?
This is the reason: A few days ago, Niantic had to comply with a court ruling. All PokéStops that are located around private homes must be removed upon request. Niantic now has no leeway there.
Now, first players are showing the consequences of this ruling. Dozens of arenas and stops have disappeared, leaving areas without a single PokéStop.
This is how drastically the ruling changes the areas
This is what players show: On Reddit, an image is circulating that shows various “removals”. An area in the US state of New York, which supposedly previously had 4 arenas and 13 PokéStops, is now completely empty. During the day, the stops simply disappeared.
The image is receiving a lot of support, and other players are reporting removals in their city:
“Two areas in my state are completely free of stops. One of them was a park that was full of memorials for military service, and each memorial was a PokéStop or an arena. The residents did not like the traffic on their once quiet street. Similarly, our state fairgrounds were a good place, but people did not follow traffic rules, and the fair management had everything removed.
Gasman18 on Reddit
Are German players also affected? So far, there are only reports from American players who are affected. It is not yet clear whether the court ruling is so extensive that Niantic has to remove the stops worldwide.
How are players reacting to the removals? Of course, these things do not sit well with players. However, there is also a lot of understanding, as memorial stones for war victims were deleted as PokéStops, which many trainers can understand.
The removals are also being extended somewhat. It is believed that they do not want players to play in certain areas, which is why PokéStops are disappearing there, but in return, these trainers then shift to other areas, making those areas much busier, speculates Moon_92 on Reddit.
It remains to be seen whether further PokéStops will be removed and whether this removal wave will actually spill over to Europe. It is also interesting whether new submissions of PokéStops will also be affected.
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