Niantic changes Pokémon Go and more games for home use

A Niantic, which develops Pokémon Go, Ingress e Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, announced changes to all three games to benefit gameplay in internal environments. The measures were mainly made to encourage people to stay indoors during the coronavirus pandemic, which causes Covid-19. Some adjustments have already been made before, but they were not enough.

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“We created Niantic with a mission to help people get outside, exercise and explore the world, with the goal of connecting with each other,” John Hanke, the company’s CEO, wrote in a statement. “Now it's time to prioritize this work that we've built with the challenge of making the indoor experience as exciting as playing away from home,” he continued.

A number of changes are coming to keep players active in Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Ingress. Since the orientation is to stay at home, in social isolation, Niantic had to resort to some changes:

• Exercises: Adventure Sync will be improved to work better indoors. So activities like cleaning or running on a treadmill will count towards game achievements.
• Social : even far away, players will be able to play together. “Soon, you will be able to team up with friends to face Raid Battles in Pokémon Go, in the comfort of your home”, promises the company.
• Exploration: there will be the possibility to virtually visit favorite places, until players can go back to frequenting them in person.
• Live events: the same will happen with attractions like the Pokémon Go Fest. According to Niantic, the events will be reimagined to "bring animation right into your home."

Pokémon Go facilitates gameplay for those who are at home

Niantic has already canceled events like Community Day and implemented a series of changes to Pokémon Go to make it easier for those who are at home to play. The most notable changes are in relation to Eggs, which require half the distance to hatch, and Incenses, which last an hour instead of 30 minutes.

Another change removed the walk requirement from Battle League Go — previously it was necessary to walk five kilometers or pay 100 coins to unlock the next competition.

Every week, too, there will be a bundle of items in the Shop with the cost of one coin. So far, a bundle with 30 Incense has been offered, another with 100 Poké Balls and the current one contains 50 Great Balls.