Pokemon Go players have penned an open letter to Niantic asking it to reconsider its recently announced remote raid pass changes.
Last week, Pokemon Go developer Niantic shared a blog post that announced a number of changes coming to the remote raid pass feature in the mobile game. Remote raid passes were introduced back in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and allowed players to participate in local raids from the safety of their homes.
Now, in April 2023, Niantic wants to begin making these remote raid passes less desirable by increasing how much they cost to purchase with in-game currency, limiting the amount remote raids Trainers can take part in to no more than five per day, and other measures. Shortly after this was revealed, Pokemon Go players called for others to stop supporting Niantic due to the new changes and how they'll affect players that rely on the remote raid passes.
Today on April 4, a number of people within the Pokemon Go community shared an open letter to Niantic as well as started a Change.org petition to slightly alter these changes which are set to come into place on April 6, 2023. The letter and petition have been shared by several prominent figures within the community - including @JoeMerrick and @pokejungle - and reads: "We want Pokemon Go to succeed, and we want to be able to play this game (the game we love) for years to come."
The letter continues: "Unfortunately, we, as a whole, feel unheard. Time and time again, our questions go unanswered; Our concerns are not addressed; And most importantly our needs are not taken into proper consideration." The authors of this letter have suggested that Niantic's decision will cause "harm" to rural trainers, trainers with disabilities, trainers who have severe social anxiety, trainers who work night shifts, trainers who are single parents, and several other people.
We are supporting the community once again with #HearUsNiantic. The recent raid changes announced by @NianticLabs for @Pokemon GO are nothing short of disastrous for the future of the game and the community. Please read our letter and see https://t.co/d3ysHNQtPI. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/wPTZW8oAjSApril 4, 2023
The rest of the letter proposes alternative changes Niantic can make, which instead of making remote raid passes more difficult to use, could "reward players significantly for doing in-person raids" with rewards such as guaranteed XL rare Candy, increased lucky friend odds, and offering premium items such as Incubators and Star Pieces.
The letter concludes with: "We are sad, distraught, and discouraged because our interactions with our global friends will no longer be free to accommodate for every type of global Pokemon Go trainer." At the time of writing this, the 'Save Remote Raiding in Pokemon Go!' petition has got 52,864 signatures out of its 75,000 goal.
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