Pokémon Go expert breaks down the biggest problems Niantic needs to fix to stop players leaving

Pokémon Go has been in hot water for months now, and an expert pointed out issues that could use a fix to curb the player exodus. They made up a list on a June 7 Reddit thread, two months after they quit the game themselves.

Related: Niantic fixes accidental Remote Raid Shiny nerfs in Pokémon Go, will compensate players

They claimed they left the game mainly because of frustration over the competitive system, including the removal of the Master Premier Classic League and a grind that wasn’t sustainable anymore for casual players.

For them, the restrictions applied on Remote Raid Passes on April 6 were just the straw that broke the camel’s back. “These are just the final hits that made me realize there are many more unsolved issues in the game,” they wrote.

The issues mentioned mainly revolved around a lack of social features, raid improvements, or fresh content, as well as poor communication by Niantic, and it “implicitly tolerat[ing] rule violators.”

They wrote the game felt like “a series of chores” due to too many constraints like specific schedules that made it feel “an obligation to play during certain times, and no longer a game that can be played on one’s own terms and schedule.”

They said they couldn’t enjoy the simple features of the game anymore, such as wild spawns and egg incubation, due to being “force-fed” with successive events.

While Pokémon Go always features some event to participate in, the core features of the game, such as raids, lack quality-of-life changes, according to the author.

“Raids have been broken since freaking 2017 and no fix is in sight,” they wrote. They added there were still too many ways of “wasting” raid passes by people leaving at the last second and other annoying issues.

Developer Niantic also didn’t do enough to curb rule violators, such as those using multi-accounts or spoofing, to get around the game’s in-person limits.

In addition, they criticized the lack of social features to help players coordinate, and considered the Campfire app, launched globally on April 6 not nearly enough.

Lastly, and it’s no minor criticism, they pointed at poor communication from the developer concerning how the game actually works, which hinders accessibility to new players.

The player described themself as a former Silph Road Scientist. The grassroots community provided data and news on Pokémon Go until it ceased operations on May 12 due to losing Niantic’s sponsorship.

In the comments, players generally agreed to their statement, expressing frustration over the current state of the game. Many agreed they needed a breath of fresh air, but also to see quality-of-life changes that were long overdue.

Niantic has yet to react to most of the community’s feedback, notably on Remote Raid Pass changes. Meanwhile, it quickly fixed an accidental decrease of Shiny appearance rates in raids and promised to compensate players in the future. This was announced only one day after players discovered the abysmal appearance rate of the Lake Trio’s Shiny versions.