In Pokémon GO many trainers are currently discussing whether their feedback is actually reaching the developer Niantic. Many believe that their wishes are not being heard. The reason for the current sentiment: the anonymous review of a Niantic employee.
This was the trigger: A job review for Niantic has appeared in the large subreddit of TheSilphRoad. This was published on March 23 on the portal “glassdoor.co.uk“. A former Staff Software Engineer from Niantic expresses extremely critical views about his former employer Niantic.
He states that often players were not listened to and even negative feedback that he personally gives was not accepted. He himself says that his constructive suggestions were dismissed with statements like “It doesn’t help to just suggest solutions.”
Furthermore, this comment about Niantic claims that many developers may play Pokémon GO, but very few truly know the game well and those few often have important matters to attend to that they must deal with.
It was also criticized that new features and bugs were wrongfully prioritized in his view. As an example, he mentioned the spawn issue on the island of Salamis, which was only fixed after the press reported on it.
Reddit posts about the problem that had circulated earlier were ignored, claims the author of the post.
This is now being discussed: Many trainers on Reddit are shocked by the statements of the employee on Glassdoor.
However, there is agreement and some readers have made similar observations.
Trainers recognize the problems
Here there is understanding: Especially the statements that many developers do not know much about the game and that player feedback is often ignored resonate with many. Many trainers seem to see it that way too.
As “Regidragon” notes on reddit: “This confirms exactly what fans have been thinking since 2016: Most developers don’t really know what they’re doing and don’t play Pokémon GO as much as they should.”
The mentioned topic about the missing spawns from Salamis also confirms this statement:
- In March 2019, all spawns disappeared due to an update on the Greek island of Salamis.
- Only 7 months later was the problem fixed and that was only after numerous media outlets had pointed it out.
- Reddit posts that had been made about the topic before did not seem to attract Niantic’s attention.
Other trainers are even harsher on Niantic. “Piouslnquisitor” states about the topic: “This is extremely interesting, albeit accurate. But at the same time, nothing about this is surprising. It is very reassuring to know that those at Niantic who truly care about the game and do not just want to make money are being driven away.”
The issue of Pay2Win has particularly come back into focus for Niantic in recent months. More and more things can only be obtained with great luck or through spending real money, such as Pokémon that are only available in eggs or raids. For example, finally no more egg events have been demanded.
MeinMMO author Noah Strutoff has a very own opinion on this and believes it can be done differently.
How credible is this job review? There is a disagreement about this. After all, there is no clear evidence that this review was indeed written by a former Niantic employee. Just as well, an angry fan could have made a joke and submitted such a review.
What does Niantic think about this? We asked Niantic for a statement and received the following response:
“With millions of players worldwide, community feedback helps us continuously improve our gameplay and introduce new features. We welcome suggestions and ideas, and we offer players several different options to share their ideas with us. Players can quickly share their feedback in the app of all our Niantic games as well as on Twitter @NianticHelp.
Niantic in a statement regarding the job review
This is why this topic is so contentious: Criticism of Niantic that players are often not listened to and that many of the developers do not really know the game has been known for some time.
Such a post fuels the discussion among trainers and could indicate that Niantic is indeed having issues with development. One of the latest concerns is the friendship list, which has been completely bugged since the latest update.
