Sep2
Pokémon GO task force reports back - 80 meter interaction radius here to stay, Niantic pledges better communication with community going forward
According to the statement, since release, PokéStops and Gyms were designed to nudge Trainers to get outside and discover new places, walk an extra kilometer or two, and meet others. After listening to player's feedback over the past few weeks, including through four roundtable conversations where Steve Wang spoke directly with over 30 community leaders from around the world, they've come to understand that the 80 meter interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms has been an incredibly positive quality of life improvement over the past year and a half, and that Niantic has a lot of room to grow when it comes to communication with players. As a result of these discussions, it's now been decided that 80 meters will be the base interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms globally from now on. The team are eager to develop new ways that motivate and reward Trainers for exploring and exercising in the real world, and new ideas to explore will be shared in the coming months.
After the recent rough learning experience regarding the game settings' adjustment for New Zealand in response to their lockdown, Niantic also learnt that it is unable to effectively adjust the experience on a country-by-country basis in real-time. Starting with the Season of Mischief, all bonuses will be set at a global level and be tied directly to the seasons in Pokémon GO.
Niantic has also made a commitment to communicating and engaging more with Trainers, and acknowledges that there are many ways they can improve. Starting in October, Niantic will begin publishing a developer diary every other month to share the latest priorities, events, and features for the game, set up regular conversations with community leaders, and updating the Known Issues page, prioritizing bringing greater visibility into the status of existing bugs for Trainers. Niantic apologized for the lack of communication regarding the PokéStop and Gym interaction radius and not handling well on their part.
Steve Wang—Executive Producer of Pokémon GO and Niantic said:
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