Pokemon Go devs address viral HearUsNiantic movement & Remote Raid Pass controversy

A month after one of Pokemon Go’s biggest controversies, game developer Niantic broke the silence and addressed the HearUsNiantic movement that surfaced after the Remote Raid Pass nerf in April.

Back on April 6, 2023, Pokemon Go nerfed Remote Raid Passes by increasing their price and setting a daily limit for their use. The item introduced during the Pandemic was designed to let players participate in Raids without leaving their homes. At the same time, it brought new opportunities for disabled and rural players, as well as trainers with no Gyms in their vicinities.

The Remote Raid Pass nerf brought back the #HearUsNiantic movement, with thousands of players asking developer Niantic to revert changes so they can all enjoy the game they love. After more than a month of protests and boycotts, Niantic addressed the current Pokemon Go situation in recent interviews.

Niantic claim Pokemon Go Remote Raid Nerf was “very, very painful decision”

In recent interviews to promote the newly-introduced Shadow Raids, Pokemon Go director Michael Steranka addressed the #HearUsNiantic movement by saying it’s hard to ignore: “I’m personally being tagged a lot in a lot of these tweets. So we read everything, and we see everything, it’s one of those things where we never want to go out and respond to calls like that, unless we have something to actually show for it.”

In an interview with DotEsports, Steranka mentioned they don’t plan to respond to the community in any way, but they will keep adding new exciting features for players to enjoy. Steranka also admitted he used to do more Remote Raids than most Pokemon Go players, so it was a very painful decision for him as well.

Regarding the reasoning behind the Remote Raid Pass nerf, the Pokemon Go director revealed that remote raiding became an unhealthy way to engage with the game: “I would just throw money at PokeCoins so that I can spam Legendary Raids as much as possible.”

This goes against what Legendary Pokemon represent in the franchise, according to Steranka, which is a limited but very rewarding experience.

Players are already slamming Steranka for his comments and don’t expect the Remote Raid Pass nerf to be reverted at this point. Some trainers argue that there are better ways to limit Legendary catches than raising the price of one of the most important items in the game. Others found word-for-word similarities with a Eurogamer interview, making the claims less believable in their eyes.

The Rising Heroes season of Pokemon Go isn’t going as Niantic expected. Aside from the Remote Raid controversy, many in-game events were announced with incorrect information, and players have been complaining about features that don’t work since December 2022.

We’ll keep you updated with any other Pokemon Go developments. In the meantime, you can check out when the Master Ball is coming to Pokemon Go, when the next Community Day is, or the best Pokemon you can use in Great League.