Hey, Pokemon Go. Listen to your fans.

 POKEMON-GO-TO-THE-STOPS

You'd have to scour some of the most remote corners of the globe in order to spy a rock under which exists a people who have not heard of Pokemon Go, and even then that rock would still be brimming with with AR Pokemon. For five years this app has ruled as the jewel of developer Niantic's eyes, turning them into household names and creating an endlessly attractive money sink that even the most lazy Gamefreak executive couldn't dream of. They still have to waste time making new games in order to make money, not Niantic, these guys just have to turn up the spawn rate of some event Pokemon and they'll have generated six figure revenues from half a day's work. Recycle the odd event, change up Team Rocket grunt rewards, you've got a forever game on your hands. Despite how big Pokémon already was before the release of Go, it's hard not to see the success of this mobile little brother as a microcosm of the sheer global dominance of this brand, as well as an ultimate destination for the original mission briefing of the franchise. Short of genetic experimentation and cloning, this is the closet we're ever going to get to bringing Pokemon into everyone's living room.

And so with that sort of success you'd imagine a certain quality of the untouchable to be upon the game and it's creators; an immutability where sheer supremacy raises the product and it's harbingers to a higher plane of being, above the squabbles and gnawing of even their player base. Because where would they go if they were upset anyway? To one of Pokémon Go's Competitors? The beauty of the product is that it's the unique brand which sells the concept, with it's history feeding the diehards, so no matter how many better alternatives pop up, none will ever quite replace the Go. At least, that's what I think the Niantic higher-ups thought of themselves over this half decade, for why else would they try to undercut their own success with another identical game based on an easily less marketable property?

But I think in that hubris, and they very much were drowning in hubris, Niantic have built themselves up as magnanimous heroes beyond reproach, when they are very much still within our spitting distance, a fact deftly shown through their recent controversy. This whole thing actually started with an attempt to do good around the world, or at least capitalise on a world wide epidemic to score some 'good company' points. (Hey, if the end result suits everyone, I ain't got a problem with it.) Niantic threw together a gift patch, in that distances for Pokestops and gyms, real life locations you have to visit practically everyday within the app in order to access any of it's proper features, would be temporarily inflated, thus allowing them to be accessed from further away. Of course this meant that people could stay inside for lockdown and not have to burn rubber across their neighbourhood for their daily ration of Pokeballs.

In fact, it was during this time that I really started to get into Pokemon Go, something I'd never actually tried with any conviction before. And I really did manage to get a lot done, slipping into the addiction with the ease of an ex rehab patient. I got to partake in a few events, go crazy on some of the wild hunting days, bagged myself a shiny Charizard (A must-have for every Pokemon game), dragged myself to completing some of those obnoxiously tedious quest chains, and even scored a couple legendries! One of them was just Mewtwo, more a pity gift for going through one of their endless Team Rocket questlines, but the other was an honest to goodness raid reward! (Only after I caught it on my final throw attempt did I look up catch rates online and realise how stupidly lucky I was.) And you know what? I wasn't the only person who decided that, now the walking requirement wasn't quite as stringent, this would be a good time to get into Pokemon Go. The game saw a drastic influx of newblood and, though I doubt Niantic needed it, a revitalised lifespan.

So this is all just a feel-good story with no possible drawback, right? Wrong. For what I can only assume is a deep seated feeling that they are the authority on people's health, the second that guidlines started to lift a little on how much people were allowed to be in public, Niantic were making moves to turn back the clock to the old way of things, when being a tech company they should know; it's often impossible to turn back. During the time when distances were increased, the Pokemon Go App became more accessible than it ever was before, with players being able to scour their neighbourhood without coalescing within spitting distance of one another. And the dial wasn't turned up so much that you didn't have to leave your home, (Unless you live in a city surrounded by local landmarks, I guess) so the balance was fine. People had come accustomed to the way things were now.

Niantic, just like the Pokemon Company before them, seemed to have an issue with working to the benefit of the consumer. They put out their change-back policy just a few months back, stubborn to bring things back to the way they were without even stopping to consider if they might have been just that bit better. People were still going outside, afterall, they were still exercising, (which is the point of this entire venture) they just perhaps weren't socialising as much. Still they laid down the law, convinced of their moral superiority, and it sparked an actual consumer revolt in response! This sort of thing is becoming less and less uncommon in the gaming world as buyers become more attuned with the power that they have, but I always smile whenever it happens. Because the way I see it, these sorts of events are never born out of a place of malice (unless we're talking about Sports games; those tend to be fuelled by a desire to salt-the-earth. With good reason) but a hope to reach a best of both worlds for everyone. (What's good for the consumer is good for the developer's check-balance, afterall.)

I remember a similar clash between what the company thought was right and what would be best for Pokemon players when the conversation came to special mythical events. In the past these event Pokemon would only ever be handed out in-person at stores or Pokemon movie premiers, a practise that was becoming more and more dated at the world grew more digital. It was only, again, when the pandemic hit that something had to give, otherwise no one would end up getting these stupid mythicals and The Pokemon Company would risk sparking up a godawful grey Pokémon trading market. (If that sounds ridiculous to you, then rest assured that even with the new measures the company took, there were still listings up on Ebay for Pokemon trades.) Ultimately Pokemon caved to pressure and offered online sign-ups to be emailed new codes, but it took pushback in order for these guys to catch up to the rest of the world, and it really shouldn't have.

I understand and respect the Pokemon Go mission statement and what it is they try to achieve. I grimace a little when I see how much money they made off the back of this 'mission', but I still feel that at the heart of all lies genuine altruism. However, when the throes of what you want to do starts to collide with what you should do, maybe it helps to have the screaming voice of the masses changing your internal goals that little bit. Niantic ended up relenting and allowing the further distance Pokestops to remain, and though they do so begrudgingly, this should be as a win. A coming together of developer and fan in a beautiful storm of cooperation. (Or maybe just an example crowd-bullying to get Niantic to dance to their tune; I guess it really is a 'perspective' thing here, huh.)