The community is currently reporting that players find it increasingly difficult to locate monsters in Pokémon GO. There are no official statements on this.
Catching monsters is one of the most important aspects of the game, if not the most important. Trainers may have different preferences. While some prefer to collect increasingly stronger specimens, others prefer to go for rare monsters such as Shinys.
Currently, many voices in the community are reporting that catching monsters has recently been adjusted and has now become more difficult.
“Pokémon are leaving the game before players do”
What has changed? According to trainers on Reddit, the number of monsters appearing in the wild for them has been significantly adjusted. While there were many more monsters recently, the number of spawns in the wild seems to have been drastically reduced.
While this supposed change already affects trainers in larger cities, trainers in smaller towns and rural areas are even more affected since the number of wild monsters is generally already lower here than in big cities.
The number of monsters appearing during a Spotlight Hour is also reportedly affected according to several trainers. It is unknown whether the number of spawns in other activities, such as Community Days, might also be affected.
What does Niantic say about this? So far, there is no information or statements from the official side on this. There are also no update news indicating a reduction in spawns.
Whether this is merely a subjective opinion of the trainers, a planned change, or a bug cannot be definitively stated at this time.
What does the community say? While there are also some trainers who report that their numbers have not changed, there are many critical voices complaining about the reduced numbers. Some of them include:
- “Was swarmed with Delibirds for the entire hour last week. This week I got an initial spawn of around 6-8, and after that a grand total of 3 more Pokemon over the remainder of the hour. Not spawns of multiples, 3 individual, solitary Pokemon. Enraging” writes triple_heart regarding the Spotlight Hours.
- “I was wondering what happened to all the spawns near me. Rural player already having a difficult time finding spawns. Now it’s almost impossible. Thanks” comments ClydeSheltonX.
- “Just why. We’ve been begging for 10 years to make the game more accessible to rural players. This is literally the opposite. It’s almost like they don’t want people to play.” comments v3xxie.
- “Yeah this kinda completely killed off the game in my small town. If I drive all over town I can get maybe 8-10 Pokemon outside of incense spawns.” writes Ab47203.
- “Pokemon are leaving the game before players.” notes aba_lancer sarcastically.
Have you had similar experiences in your area in recent days? Let us know in the comments. If you want to know what activities await you in the game in the near future, feel free to take a look at our overview with all events in January 2026 in Pokémon GO.
