Niantic has introduced several changes for Pokémon GO. Two of them affect the popular Remote Raids. More than 20,000 users have signed a petition against Niantic and demand a reversal of the changes.
During the Corona pandemic, Niantic offered “Remote Raids” as an option to fight together with players over long distances. However, many feared that Niantic would remove this pass again or at least make significant adjustments.
Now Niantic wants to drastically raise the price for Remote Raid passes and significantly limit the number of Remote Raids one can participate in per day. However, players are upset about the changes to the Remote Raids. Now thousands of players have come together.
Petition against Niantic has already collected almost 30,000 signatures
What is being demanded? Starting April 6, the boycott participants are to reduce their interaction with the raids in the game for one week. However, other players are already planning to delete the app permanently as soon as the changes go live.
A petition started by a player has now reached almost 30,000 signatures. With this, they want to show how negatively the proposed changes are expected to affect the game and the community.
It says in the petition ( via Change.org):
Niantic Inc. and the developers of Pokémon GO have decided to drastically increase the price for Remote Raid passes and limit the number of Remote Raid passes one can participate in per day. This affects the majority of Pokémon GO players who have enjoyed this aspect of the game since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were all forced to stay indoors and could not play the game as it was intended.
This includes people with disabilities, parents, immunocompromised individuals, and many more. This community has come together in the past to advocate for accessibility issues, and we hope to show Niantic with this petition that they need to reverse their decision.
Many complain that the changes would simply overlook the players. Because especially disabled individuals and gamers living in rural areas with few opportunities for raids would suffer from the higher prices.
Moreover, some argue that this would only encourage cheaters to continue cheating and spoofing (via reddit.com).
What happens next? Many hope that the petition will lead to a change of heart at Niantic. Whether that will actually happen is questionable. So far, Niantic has not commented on the criticism. We will keep you updated as we learn more.
Players have long desired more accessibility for Pokémon GO. During the then Autumn event, Niantic accidentally introduced a change that certain players really needed:
