Pokemon Go community flames Niantic over now-deleted ‘going outside’ meme

Niantic has had a very mixed month, taking backlash from players across several of its games for bugs and gameplay changes while also announcing it is working on a new game—Monster Hunter Now. 

The biggest area of concern surrounded the developer’s decision to limit Remote Raids in Pokémon Go, which also made it less accessible for players overall as a way to push players to play Pokémon Go in person. Players have been actively boycotting the game or pushing back against this reasoning and changes since they were leaked in February, and now the community is flaming Niantic after the company tried to joke about its “going outside” approach. 

Earlier today, the official Niantic Labs Twitter account shared a post that played on recent Rotten Tomatoes memes, trying to reference how players were positively talking about Niantic games and going outside. And, while this was a general post that applies to all of the company’s games, the Pokémon Go community did not let that comment slide. 

Almost immediately, the replies to the now-deleted Tweet were filled with a mix of players calling it a bad-taste post or outright flaming Niantic for making a joke like that while a chunk of the community for its biggest title is upset at the lack of communication and understanding from the company. 

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“Niantic’s tone deafness continues to be staggering. I enjoy the game in principle, but the way they rub it in their customers’ faces how they don’t really matter makes it difficult to want to continue with it,” Twitter user Zzweilous said. “There’s no trust left between company and customers. They can go Monster Hunting for all I care, but their reputation alone dooms it to flop again.” 

This “slap in the face” is only compounded by recent bugs that have impacted how players still active in Pokémon Go enjoy events. This includes an error that wiped progress for Special Research tasks and an error on promotional material that incorrectly advertised bonuses. 

Niantic has not made a follow-up statement after deleting the initial Tweet.