The COVID-19 pandemic – commonly known as the coronavirus outbreak – has already had a huge impact on the games industry. Certain games have been delayed, Switch stock is in short supply in some locations around the world, and most recently it's resulted in the cancellation of E3 2020.
Now, to add to this, Niantic will be making some temporary changes to its popular augmented reality mobile game Pokémon GO, which typically requires players to go outside and socialise with each other around points of interest.
While we’ve made these updates based on the current global health situation, we also encourage players to make decisions on where to go and what to do that are in the best interest of their health and the health of their communities
To ensure its playerbase remains in a healthy state, Niantic is prioritising updates to "GO features and experiences" that can be enjoyed in individual settings.
Habitats have been increased (more Pokémon appear in the wild), incense packs (which increase the rate of spawns) now last for an hour, there's a one-time purchase bundle of 30 Incense for 1 PokéCoin, and trainers can hatch eggs twice as fast in incubators. PokéStops will also drop Gifts more frequently and all of these changes will continue until "further notice".
Niantic has even gone to the extent of postponing its 'Abra Community Day' and various other real-world events that revolve around large gatherings. Fortunately, the game's Special Research story event featuring Genesect can still be completed individually.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 16
Very cool of them. I saw that I got 5 gifts from the 5 stops I hit on my way to work today. I assumed it was just good RNG. And the boost to incense plus getting 30 of them for a single coin is rather nice.
Let's hope the trend of social responsibility continues in all companies! … … … well, let's hope...
That's really thoughtful of them, really.
Yeahhhh, roaming the streets at the minute would be a bit silly. Good to see actual measures instead of just a message asking you to be careful.
They literally just announced a ticketed Genesect event today, seems like insanely poor timing considering the situation with the entire world.
still doesn’t help me. I live in the country and won’t be going near a town anytime soon
So... what changes did they make, exactly? The details in this article are a bit vague...
So why don’t they make eggs on a timer instead of needing less distance?
Incense being cheaper and more effective is a good idea.
For every 30 mins of screen time, Pelipper should deliver items from your nearest Pokestop or something. HA!
I wonder what this means for the upcoming Pokemon Safari Zone events? Luckily I can cancel my hotel for the Liverpool event but I’d be worried if I couldn’t.
@ROBLOGNICK Honestly probably better to assume they will be postponed. Unless the situation changed quite a bit in the coming weeks. I mean events in June are being cancelled already...
Winter Box 📦 with 30 incense for 1 token thingy available now.
Now this is the coronavirus news we've been waiting for.
Cool, cool, so hey I still need to uproot my friends or rely on total strangers to win event pokemon at a pokestop. That's always been a bad idea and now it's a worse Idea. I could see someone use the poke stop as a way to infect people. There are some messed up people out there. I get it's supposed to be incentive to leave your house but it's actually insensitive. There are people who love pokemon who can't leave their house even when there isn't a mass pandemic.
@Not_Soos
Full details are here: https://pokemongolive.com/en/post/updatedevents-abracommunityday/
But this is the list:
We will also be making the following changes to Pokémon GO which are effective starting now until further notice.
Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receive push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated.
All of this over a virus that has infected 0.002% of the global population.
@Mountain_Man welcome to hysteria, where panic overloads reason.
quickly, grab all the toilet paper!
@Shadowmoon522 it is this kind of thinking that will cause the virus to keep spreading.
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