Niantic has responded to the controversy regarding changes being made to the distance it takes to interact with PokeStops and Gyms.
Earlier in the month, Niantic revealed that it planned to revert the changes that it had made to the distance it allows players to interact with PokeStops and Gyms. These changes were originally put in place to allow players to play the game whilst still being safe during the pandemic, as well as being considered more accessible to those with disabilities.
These changes were largely praised by players all around the world, but with lockdown being eased up in certain areas, Niantic has started to revert the changes and put Pokemon Go back to normal. This caused many key players in the community to join an open letter to Niantic asking it to reintroduce the changes and make them permanent in the game.
Niantic has now acknowledged the controversy with a post on its blog titled "A Response To Our Pokemon Go Community". In the post, it says, "The health and wellbeing of players is our top priority, which is why we have implemented the new Exploration Bonuses in select geographies where it is deemed safe to be outdoors. Research has shown that taking walks outside is safe and confers several health benefits. Furthermore, encouraging outdoor exploration is in keeping with Niantic’s mission."
The post continues, "However, we have heard your input loud and clear and so to address the concerns you have raised, we are taking the following actions: We are assembling an internal cross-functional team to develop proposals designed to preserve our mission of inspiring people to explore the world together, while also addressing specific concerns that have been raised regarding interaction distance. We will share the findings of this task force by the next in-game season change (September 1). As part of this process, we will also be reaching out to community leaders in the coming days to join us in this dialogue."
So far Niantic has mainly just acknowledged the problems are there without promising too many changes. It remains to be seen what this task force will affect.