Just weeks after a major sale to a different company, Pokémon GO will be making a pretty big change to increase the amount of gameplay for people who prefer to stay at home and play the game. Original developer Niantic was bought by Monopoly GO developer Scopely in a $3.5 billion deal. With the massive deal and a change in hands, it might appear there could have been a new focus direction for Pokémon GO moving forward, but the new update to the game was decided "years" back, before the deal was even a concept.
In an interview with Eurogamer, the game's development team stated it will be doubling the number of daily Remote Raids in the game to 10 to allow for more play from the comfort of your home, instead of having to go outside. The Remote Raid increase will be implemented in the game next week.
The Change Comes From Niantic, Not Scopely, Dev Claims
But What Does That Mean For The Game's Future?
The development team stated that this change was not decided as a result of the Scopely deal and was "100 percent" decided by the game's leadership. The Pokémon GO developers have reassured fans that there would not be any major changes to the game since the sale to Scopely, and this increase in the number of Remote Raids might make a lot of fans happy. The feature was originally introduced to combat the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing mandates, and it led to the feature being the most profitable part of Pokémon Go.
There will be some additional changes, too. Next week, Pokémon Go will allow players to permanently use Remote Raid Passes to access Shadow Raids, as well as Max Battles for Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon, which were previously only available via in-person play. Overall, this could be considered a "major change" by a lot of fans, despite it probably being for the better, overall. Still, it brings up the question of whether or not bigger changes will come to the game in the following months and years.
Our Take: This "Major Change" Is Actually A Positive One
Let's Hope It Continues That Way
Doubling the amount of daily Remote Raids is a pretty big change. Since the Remote Raids have seen a positive reception since their implementation, and they turned out to be super profitable for the game, many might have assumed the new owner would have decreased the number of Remote Raids to try and increase profits more. But that isn't the case, so this is definitely a win for fans.
While it remains to be seen how much Pokémon Go will change, if at all, as more time passes, the game has tested the waters with a Battle Pass, and most players seem to agree that it was reasonable for a free-to-play game. Those practices are fluid, though, and anything can change at a moment's notice. But for now, the state of Pokémon Go seems to be a positive one, even under new ownership.
Source: Eurogamer
- Released
- July 6, 2016
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Niantic, Scopely Explore
- Publisher(s)
- Niantic, Scopely
- Engine
- Unity
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes
- Genre(s)
- Augmented Reality, RPG
