Pokémon Go is updating its distance rules.
Pokémon Go is updating its distance rules.
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Niantic pledges better communication for Pokémon Go changes

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Niantic said it is walking back a change in its immensely popular Pokémon Go mobile game after players said they would boycott it. And while it didn’t apologize, it did say it would communicate better in the future.

When the pandemic struck, Niantic kept Pokémon Go players in the game by enabling them to engage with physical locations from a greater distance. As the pandemic subsided, the company announced it would get rid of that change and require people to get closer to those locations to interact with the game. And as the Delta variant spreads, players revolted. On August 5, the company said it was walking back that change.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.