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In a few short weeks, Niantic has gone from being the maker of the most popular game in the word to the internet’s doormat. Since launch, Pokemon GO has been full of issues. People were willing to forgive server issues since the game was such a smash hit. Niantic continued to push the game to more countries, and the servers continued to buckle.
To make things more stable, Niantic turned off the Pokemon step tracking system. For almost three weeks, all nearby Pokemon were listed as three steps away. The step tracking system is what made it possible to find Pokemon in the wild. The “three-step bug” completely killed it. You had no idea exactly how far away they were or which direction to go. Earlier this week, Niantic removed the step tracking altogether. But why?
Players have been begging Niantic to communicate with the community about changes. Today, they finally posted an update on Facebook about some of the recent changes.
We have removed the ‘3-step’ display in order to improve upon the underlying design. The original feature, although enjoyed by many, was also confusing and did not meet our underlying product goals. We will keep you posted as we strive to improve this feature.
It was confusing, but it also worked. Many people used it to successfully catch Pokemon. And why did they wait until after release to decide it’s confusing?
We have limited access by third-party services which were interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon GO to users around the world.
This comment is about the plethora of 3rd-party “trackers” that have popped up since the three-step bug. I am against cheating in this game, but even I have used the 3rd-party trackers. The removal of the tracking system leaves us with no choice. How else are we supposed to find Pokemon? I would also argue that the trackers make the game more fun. When I see there is a rare Pokemon in my vicinity I jump out of my seat and go after it. Without the trackers, I’d have no idea where to go and ultimately never leave my house.
Niantic, get your s*** together. You have the most popular game in the world and you’re doing everything you can to destroy it.
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