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With 2022 behind us, the Pokemon GO community has taken to social media to express their concerns regarding Niantic as a company after having to sit on the receiving end of their recent anti-consumer practices. Niantic has decreased the time span of events, reduced the quality of free items, and much more, so the playerbase has been getting increasingly vocal.
A new year is a great time to make changes. Whether it be to hit the gym, eat healthier, or try to change a multi-million dollar company's selfish ways, the beginning of 2023 is a great time for a fresh start. With this in mind, Redditor u/Uunikana has penned a letter to Niantic, mentioning some of the changes they would like to see.
Reddit reacts to Niantic and Pokemon GO: Changes for 2023?
The message on the official Pokemon GO subreddit states that the playerbase has noticed Niantic adopting more anti-consumer practices over the lifespan of the game, with 2022 being the worst year of all. The duration of Community Day events was halved, free items were given more sparsely, and the title had more game-breaking bugs than ever.
Many are hopeful that 2023 will mark a fresh start for the mobile title, but others are skeptical of the company. Popular mobile games often aim to make the most amount of money possible with the least amount of effort. Some Redditors were just happy that they didn't have to deal with 30-second ads every five minutes when playing Pokemon GO.
Mobile games seem to be solely focused on increasing revenue. With large companies like Niantic giving players less quality with little to nothing in exchange, many have just decided to suck it up and keep playing. This has sadly only made the quality of the game worse.
However, some Pokemon GO players are still hopeful. Since Niantic makes most of their money from this game, players feel that with an exponential decrease in quality, many will just stop playing and spending money on the game. This will gradually reduce the income Niantic makes, which will incentivize them to change their ways.
On the opposite side of the coin, Redditors have also pointed out that the game's active players alone are more than enough to keep the company afloat. Considering the game's location tracking and data collection, Niantic will more or less make a profit from selling this location data to other companies, which is something they have allegedly been doing since Pokemon GO's launch.
Overall, many players are doubtful that Niantic will ever change Pokemon GO for the better. With the company now locking certain Pokemon behind paywalls, gatekeeping wild Pokemon from spawning in many areas, and no longer giving out remote raid passes for free, many trainers are jokingly speculating that a battle pass feature is just on the horizon.
