Pok\u00e9mon GO was created to encourage players to explore the world while coordinating impromptu large group gatherings \u2014 activities we\u2019ve all been encouraged to avoid since the pandemic began.
\nAnd yet, analysts estimate that 2020 was Pok\u00e9mon GO\u2019s highest-earning year yet.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tBy twisting some knobs and tweaking variables, Pok\u00e9mon GO became much easier to play without leaving the house.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Niantic\u2019s approach to 2020 was full of carefully considered changes, and I\u2019ve highlighted many of their key decisions below.
\nConsider this something of an addendum to the Niantic EC-1 I wrote last year, where I outlined things like the company\u2019s beginnings as a side project within Google, how Pok\u00e9mon Go began as an April Fools\u2019 joke\u00a0and the company\u2019s aim to build the platform that powers the AR headsets of the future.
\nHit the brakes
\nOn a press call outlining an update Niantic shipped in November, the company put it on no uncertain terms: the roadmap they\u2019d followed over the last ten-or-so months was not the one they started the year with. Their original roadmap included a handful of new features that have yet to see the light of day. They declined to say what those features were of course (presumably because they still hope to launch them once the world is less broken) \u2014 but they just didn\u2019t make sense to release right now.
\nInstead, as any potential end date for the pandemic slipped further into the horizon, the team refocused in Q1 2020 on figuring out ways to adapt what already worked and adjust existing gameplay to let players do more while going out less.
\nTurning the dials
\nAs its name indicates, GO was never meant to be played while sitting at home. John Hanke\u2019s initial vision for Niantic was focused around finding ways to get people outside and playing together; from its very first prototype, Niantic had players running around a city to take over its virtual equivalent block by block. They\u2019d spent nearly a decade building up a database of real-world locations that would act as in-game points meant to encourage exploration and wandering. Years of development effort went into turning Pok\u00e9mon GO into more and more of a social game, requiring teamwork and sometimes even flash mob-like meetups for its biggest challenges.
\nNow it all needed to work from the player\u2019s couch.
\nThe earliest changes were those that were easiest for Niantic to make on-the-fly, but they had dramatic impacts on the way the game actually works.
\nSome of the changes:<\/p>\n
Doubling the players \u201cradius\u201d for interacting with in-game gyms, landmarks that players can temporarily take over for their in-game team, earning occupants a bit of in-game currency based on how long they maintain control. This change let more gym battles happen from the couch.
\nIncreasing spawn points, generally upping the number of Pok\u00e9mon you could find at home dramatically.
\nIncreasing \u201cincense\u201d effectiveness, which allowed players to use a premium item to encourage even more Pok\u00e9mon to pop up at home. Niantic phased this change out in October, then quietly reintroduced it in late November. Incense would also last twice as long, making it cheaper for players to use.
\nAllowing steps taken indoors (read: on treadmills) to count toward in-game distance challenges.
\nPlayers would no longer need to walk long distances to earn entry into the online player-versus-player battle system.
\nYour \u201cbuddy\u201d Pok\u00e9mon (a specially designated Pok\u00e9mon that you can level up Tamagotchi-style for bonus perks) would now bring you more gifts of items you\u2019d need to play. Pre-pandemic, getting these items meant wandering to the nearby \u201cPok\u00e9stop\u201d landmarks.<\/p>\n
By twisting some knobs and tweaking variables, Pok\u00e9mon GO became much easier to play without leaving the house \u2014 but, importantly, these changes avoided anything that might break the game while being just as easy to reverse once it became safe to do so.
\nGO Fest goes virtual<\/p>\n
Like this, just \u2026 online. Image Credits: Greg Kumparak<\/p>\n
Thrown by Niantic every year since 2017, GO Fest is meant to be an ultra-concentrated version of the Pok\u00e9mon GO experience. Thousands of players cram into one park, coming together to tackle challenges and capture previously unreleased Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n