"#HearUsNiantic": Pokemon GO community appeals against Niantic's latest Remote Raid Pass nerfs

Remote Raid Passes have become a controversial topic in the Pokemon GO community due to recent changes made by the game's developers. The Remote Raid Battling system has become very popular among fans of Pokemon GO, and many players are unhappy with the changes that Niantic has decided to make.

The Remote Raid Battling system was introduced during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow players to participate in Raid Battles from home and comply with social distancing protocols. It quickly became a popular feature among players, but as pandemic restrictions are lifted around the world, Niantic has begun to slowly redact the accessibility changes and remote features they previously added.

This decision has caused uproar in the game's community. Here's what players have to say about these changes.

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Twitter reacts to Niantic's big Remote Raid changes in Pokemon GO

Spearheading the recent distress regarding these changes is the webmaster for Serebii.net and a respected figure in the Pokemon community, Joe Merrick. In addition to voicing his concerns to Niantic on behalf of the community, Merrick also created the "#HearUsNiantic" tag for players to use to express their worries about the game.

Merrick's message to Niantic conveyed that the community feels neglected in relation to the recent changes made to Pokemon GO. In this open message, Merrick stated that these changes would have a negative impact on players who have geographical or physical limitations that prevent them from attending raids in person.

A significant factor contributing to these changes is the fact that a large portion of Niantic's profits from Pokemon GO comes from tracking and selling the location data of players. Niantic can collect the location data of their players through the app to see where they go and keep track of frequently visited areas. This information is invaluable to advertising companies, so Niantic sells it for a large profit.

This puts the company in a situation where they can either keep their players happy for a comparative trickle of money through microtransactions or make a large profit by requiring players to leave their homes and hit key checkpoints in the game.

While it may be understandable from a business perspective, it doesn't justify Niantic's decision to remove useful features. These changes only seem to benefit the company by coercing players to leave their homes if they wish to participate in raids, a strategy the company has attempted before with Elite Raids.

Elite Raids can be seen as Niantic's first attempt to increase the location data they collect. These raids are different from a standard Raid Battle as they require players to be present in order to participate for the reward of a powerful Legendary Pokemon. When these raids were released, they received similar criticism to the Remote Raid Pass changes.