Niantic explains why it killed third-party Pokémon Go tracking services

Pokémon Go creator Niantic has released a statement on its Facebook page explaining some of the recent changes. You may have noticed on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit that some of these changes have been quite controversial. Hence today’s statement.

First, the ‘3-step’ indicator in the nearby Pokémon screen is gone for good. Yes, it was broken. But Niantic doesn’t have any good alternative for now. The company promises that it’s going find a way to improve this feature and bring it back in some other form.

And it brings us to the second point. Third-party tracking services, such as Pokévision, PokéHound and PokéNotify received cease-and-desist letters. While I haven’t been using these services, my friend Arthur thinks they are pure evil and should die in a fire. But they existed for a reason — if the ‘3-step’ indicator was broken, players needed some kind of hints about where to find Pokémon. Otherwise it’s just pure luck.

Sure, Pokévision and others probably went too far. But as a colleague who shall remain nameless wrote, “it was the only thing keeping their game playable while tracking is broken. It’s like suing the locksmith for helping you get into your house when you’ve got a pot on the stove about to burn your house down.”

Anyway, Niantic has the final say regarding this issue. The company says these services were making the servers unreliable. Pokémon Go doesn’t have an API, so it seems like Pokévision and others created countless of accounts on many servers around the world using Android emulators. With these emulators, they could fake movements around cities and reverse-engineer the game to create a sort of lightweight API and gather Pokémon data.

Quite a cool trick. But it’s clear that these services were using a ton of server resources. Pokémon Go doesn’t need additional server load as Niantic is still trying hard to make the game scale. And it could also be a nice excuse to kill them anyway.

Here’s the full statement:

Trainers,

As many of you know, we recently made some changes to Pokémon GO.

– 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.

– 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. The large number of users has made the roll-out of Pokémon GO around the world an… interesting… challenge. And we aren’t done yet! Yes, Brazil, we want to bring the game to you (and many other countries where it is not yet available).

We have read your posts and emails and we hear the frustration from folks in places where we haven’t launched yet, and from those of you who miss these features. We want you to know that we have been working crazy hours to keep the game running as we continue to launch globally. If you haven’t heard us Tweeting much it’s because we’ve been heads down working on the game. But we’ll do our best going forward to keep you posted on what’s going on.

​Damn, 'Pokémon Go' Now Has Less Than 2 Stars in the App Store

Oh, how fickle fandoms can be. Pokémon Go, the craze that swept the globe, finds its user ratings in the UK and US bashed down to below two stars in the iTunes app storeafter recent updates peeved players big-time.

The 1.5 star rating in the UK App Store is based on just under 1,000 ratings that specifically refer to the current version of the game, the majority of which give it a measly one star—the lowest rating. The game also has just 1.5 stars in the US version of the store too. Across all the game versions, the average rating in both countries is now three stars.Why the fall in support for the amusement that surprised the world not exactly a month prior? Fans have been pissed at Pokémon Go engineer Niantic since a report on Sunday evacuated a carriage following component that permitted players to discover close-by pokémon. The organization likewise cut down outsider applications which showed where distinctive pokémon brought forth, leaving little for players to use to track their most loved beasts. 

Appraisals in the Google Play store demonstrate a four-star normal, yet late one-star surveys uncover players aren't content with the impact this has had on the gameplay. "Do you anticipate that me will walk capriciously around a territory bigger than 6 football fields in less than 6 minutes for a Pokémon I can't track?" an analyst named Dustin Clowers composed on Monday. "Get your head out of your rear ends and acknowledge what made this diversion awesome. No one needs to lounge around getting winged animals and rats. Empower following through application and outsider, or consider your 5 minutes of popularity over." 

Another analyst, Thomson Lee, resounded this slant: "What a joke. Following was a principle highlight in this amusement as it permitted us to chase for close-by pokémons that we needed."

Is Using Third Party Maps to Find Pokémon Really Cheating?

Over the weekend, Pokémon Go developers Niantic updated the game to make some changes—and fans are mad.

The tweak raising the most ire from smartphone-wielding pokémon trainers isn’t a change in the game per se but the clamping down on related apps that mapped out where players could find different pokémon. Niantic CEO John Hanke had previously suggested in an interview with Forbes that using such services amounted to cheating.

Don’t be a fun sponge, John. It’s not really cheating, is it? Against the terms of service, possibly. But finding out where an item in a game is and then playing the game in order to find it? That’s not cheating.

Apps such as the popular Pokévision used data from Pokémon Go to locate the spawn locations of the different critters in real-time. On Sunday, the Pokévision site displayed a message stating it was unavailable, and its creators explained in a tweet that they were “respecting Niantic and Nintendo’s wishes.” Other similar apps also stopped working.

Why do people care? The apps allowed players to see where to go to collect rare pokémon in their quest to catch ‘em all. As Hanke pointed out, a lot of the fun of Pokémon Go is not knowing which pokémon will spawn near you. In that respect, these mapping apps affected the gameplay insofar as they give players a little more information than the game’s own interface and offered a glimmer of hope beyond the Rattata-infested monotony.

But they don’t provide a “cheat” to actually obtain the pokémon; players still have to get out and go to the relevant real-world location to make their catch (unless you’re spoofing your GPS location, in which case yes, you’re a filthy cheat). Letting trainers know that there are actually good pokémon out there surely only incentivises them to put in more effort.

The developers must surely understand this, because they originally included a feature that played pretty much the same function as these unofficial apps. When the game first launched, “nearby” pokémon would show up with a marker of one, two, or three footprints next to them indicating how far the player had to walk to find them at any moment. But this feature soon fell victim to a bug and continuously showed three footprints for every pokémon, making it pretty impossible to use as a tracking aid.

A large part of Pokémon Go fans’ anger at Niantic—and the anger is strong, based on the 6,000+ replies to a “Rage megathread” on the biggest Pokémon Go subreddit—comes from the fact that these third party apps were seen by many as a useful stand-in for the game’s own buggy tracking feature, rather than any additional “cheat.” To make matters worse, the footprint feature was entirely removed in the recent game update; the app now shows no footprints next to nearby pokémon.

To me, the Pokémon mapping services weren’t cheating by virtue of the fact they were easily available to everyone (Pokévision, for instance, was free). They also didn’t really offer an edge in the main multiplayer aspect of the game—gym battles—so it’s not like you could use the services against anyone.

Notably, that’s not the case for other shortcuts that are accepted as part of the game, most notably the advantage offered by in-game purchases. Buying “incense” or “lures,” which attract pokémon to a location, is one easy way of catching more different species. By comparison, a shared treasure map of pokémon hotspots seems like a pretty democratic “cheat.”

As a result, it’s also clear that the trend for sharing information on rare pokémon locations won’t be killed with this clampdown, though it’ll be less convenient to build tools to do this. Threads in regional Pokémon Go subreddits share locations of recent catches and known “nests” of specific species through word of mouth; one enterprising London player has made a new map based on crowdsourced reports of regular spawns (Russell Square for Rhyhorn, Lincoln’s Inn Fields for Machop, and so on) rather than tapping into app data.

As for whether Niantic will bring its own tracking feature back, who knows? If there’s one thing Pokémon Go fans are complaining about more than the update itself, it’s the lack of communication from Niantic. I reached out to Niantic’s press team and the PR company it uses for this article, but have not yet received a response.

Did 'Pokémon Go' remove PokéStops because neighbors complained?

Pokémon Go

 players in Sydney, Australia, may have three less PokéStops from which to get their Poké Balls, Razz Berries and potions.

The western suburb of Rhodes had been inundated with avid Pokémon Go fans since the game launched in July, leading residents to complain about crowds, rubbish and noise. In response, the local Canada Bay council began a campaign to have its PokéStops removed, and it appears to have emerged victorious from this particular battle.

According to Fairfax Media, three intersecting Poké Stops placed in Peg Paterson Park — which reportedly had been responsible for attracting hordes of Pokémon Go players — simply vanished sometime on Monday. 

Whether this is thanks to the recent game update or a separate change by the game developer Niantic is unclear. 

Mashable reached out to Niantic for comment but the company did not immediately respond. 

The council had submitted requests to Niantic to have the PokéStops removed, and encouraged residents to do the same. "The recent phenomenon of Pokémon Go has seen unprecedented numbers of people flocking to Rhodes," Deputy Mayor Helen McCaffrey said in an August newsletter. 

"I would like to thank residents, building managers and businesses for their support and patience as we all try to find an appropriate solution to the ongoing issues of noise, traffic and rubbish, as a result of the game's popularity."

Irate residents had posted pictures of trampled grass and rubbish on the council's Facebook page, ostensibly left behind by gamers. Others shared videos of crowds of people spilling off the footpath and cars circling the neighbourhood as they hunted Pokémon.

"Walking the dog at night suddenly feels like I'm in an ep of Dr Who or Torchwood or the walking dead or some post apocalyptic zombie phone reality where ‪#‎pokémongoaddicts‬ have taken over the kids park and cross roads without looking for cars," another posted.

The PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon Go were chosen from a data set created by the players of Niantic's previous augmented reality game, Ingress. For the most part, public artworks, historical sites, and unique buildings and local businesses were chosen, Niantic CEO John Hanke told Mashable Australia when the game launched.

Hanke also said the game aimed to keep people safe while getting them out of the house and interacting with the real world. "We're trying to strike a good balance," he said.

Hopefully Niantic will reveal how it decides which PokéStops to remove. There may be some cemeteries and memorials that would like to know.

New 'Pokémon Go' update makes it much harder to cheat

Almost a month after the app took the world by storm, Pokémon Go has now been updated with some major changes that should make it more difficult to cheat in the game.

Developer Niantic pushed out versions 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 of the game over the weekend, and there are some notable upgrades and downgrades.

For starters, the footprints that used show up below Pokémon inside of the "Nearby" section of the game have been removed. 

Players had complained that the footprints system didn't make any sense. Some claimed it just didn't work. It was believed the number of footprints (1-3) was supposed to show how close you were to a Pokémon.

Speaking from experience, I can't say the footprints mechanic ever worked. Good riddance!

 Follow

Raymond Wong @raywongy

Before and after for new Pokemon Go update: footprints are gone.

New don't play n drive

And game balancing

4:10 AM - 31 Jul 2016

 
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Another feature that got removed was the battery saver mode. With battery saver mode turned on, the screen would go black when your phone was held upside down, and then it'd vibrate only when a new Pokémon spawned or when you were at a PokéStop. 

Also speaking from experience, the mode frequently glitched and didn't work. Sayonara. You're better off getting a battery pack or battery case for your phone to extend playing time.

With version 1.1.0, you can also re-tweak your Pokémon trainer avatar. Previously, you couldn't. You were stuck with whatever look you picked at the beginning. It's a good change. 

Niantic also adjusted a number of Pokémon stats in an effort to balance the game.

 Follow

Sam Rutherford @samrutherford

Niantic stealth balanced #PokemonGO. If you don't believe me go look at the power on your pokemon moves

7:43 AM - 30 Jul 2016

 
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Alex @alexpenn

Pokemon Go moves are being balanced server side. Restart your apps for updating damages. Water Gun nerfed from 10 dmg to 6.

4:15 AM - 30 Jul 2016 · Los Angeles, CA, United States

 
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Olvan @_Olvan

Wow, they really balanced Pokemon GO correctly. No more OP Vape, and type advantage and charge attacks matter now.

6:13 PM - 30 Jul 2016

 
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With the rebalancing, Vaporeon is no longer a steamroller.

View image on Twitter

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Bryan Zyto @NVA_Zyto

extremely balanced and diverse pokemon go gameplay

7:50 AM - 30 Jul 2016 · Enterprise, NV, United States

 
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The most controversial change to Pokémon Go might be the nuking of third-party Pokémon tracking services like the popular PokéVision, which showed maps for where to find the monsters.

The site, which used to have a map populated with Pokémon, states its "services are currently unavailable" and to defer to its Twitter.

IMAGE: POKÉVISION

 Follow

Pokevision @PokeVisionGo

Hey guys. We wish we had some news for you

At this moment, we are respecting Niantic and Nintendo's wishes.

Will keep you guys posted

<3

1:27 PM - 31 Jul 2016

 
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To be fair, Pokémon-tracking services aren't technically cheats. They're more like game guides. But, hey, any violation of the game's terms and services is a violation.

Mashable has reached out to Niantic for comment on Pokémon-tracking services like PokéVision and will update this story if we hear back.