A recent update put a speed cap on Pokemon GO. Meaning? If you play while riding on the train or bus, you might want to find something else to do.
The Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, reports that the update is global and that The Pokemon Company is not disclosing details about the speed cap. Moreover, it is not mentioned in the recent patch notes.
Prior to the update, it was easy to load up on items at PokeStops while taking public transportation. In Osaka, for example, if you rode on any of the above ground train lines, you’d pass a number of PokeStops and could spin out items. However, as of today, it’s no longer possible to do that while the train is moving, and players get a message instead telling them to wait momentarily.
[Images: Kotaku]
Here are photos taken earlier today in Osaka with said message.
Obviously, this kind of ruins things if you live in Tokyo or Osaka or, you know, any place with lots of public transportation. Ditto if you are in a bus or a passenger in a car.
Players are obviously unhappy, as evident by Reddit threads the change has spawned (here and here, for example). Likewise, Facebook users on the game’s official page aren’t thrilled, either.
To make it up to players, it seems, another new update gives out more items at PokeStops – at least, temporarily.
電車でポケストップ回せない代わりにアイテム6個以上確定なのはいいね pic.twitter.com/3GyDpEgqPN
— サトカン (@blueinfinitysk) November 8, 2016
This comes as Pokemon GO players have not only crashed into schools, but have even killed people. A recent study showed playing Pokemon GO while driving is more prevalent than you’d hope. No doubt the speed cap aims to prevent those tragedies. That, and it was always meant to be a game played while walking…
Comments
17 responses to “Speed Cap Ruins Pokemon GO For Commuters”
You know, taking stock of all the articles published on Pokemon Go since it’s release, it would probably save time to use this heading:
“Niantic Ruins Pokemon Go for Everyone”.
More like, “Dead people ruin Pokemon Go for everyone still alive”
More like idiots killing people ruin Pokemon Go for the people that are too lazy to walk like the game intended.
If you are walking, it doesn’t affect the game at all, so it isn’t ruined for anyone that walks like the game intended.
I don’t play this game (or any Pokemon), but this seems fitting. http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/731/145/0fa.jpg
Is it me or does every update Niantic release alienates more of their userbase?
Or more relevant question does anyone care anymore? I played this game like crazy for the first couple of weeks, played it less and less until when cleaning my phone from crap i dont use uninstalled it.
This article doesn’t quite tell the whole story… The last update stopped Pokemon from spawning when the game detected you moving at a certain speed, this one simply does the same for Pokestops.
With that said, considering how bad the game is at tracking movement in general (it thinks I’m driving when I’m standing still half the time), the last update pretty much killed the game for me, and just incase I had any residual interest, this update would’ve finished that off.
Good job Niantic, you built an interesting core game then went out of your way to tear it apart, bit by bit.
Looking forward to videos of people running through trains towards the back carriage to try and make their phone think they’re stationary
It didn’t seem to hamper my attempts at catching ‘mon or hitting pokéstops on the bus this morrow… I was aided by a GO plus, but there were a few instances where I harvested things manually. I usually ride my bike… catching ‘mon on the bus always feels like a bit of a cheat anyway, but I can understand that commuters for whom this is normalised are frustrated.
They are called poké-stop though.
It’s been pretty clear for a long time that this game is meant to be played on foot. While walking. It’s been clear since day one. The fact that Niantic is trying to cut down on people playing the game through non-walking means is neither surprising or wrong
god dammit, I thought I was going insane and/or had lost my skill at hitting stops as a passenger…… welp, no more items for me I guess. Thanks Niantic
Don’t know what The Pokemon Company has to do with it, this game is a Niantic release and they’ve been notoriously silent about every patch.
Shrug. Guess I’ll uninstall. The only time I really used it was to pass the time on public transport or while waiting in one place at shopping centres/doctors.
Im the same, pulled the game out yesterday while catching a tram in Melbourne back to office, could collect from all stops but Pokémon only spawned when the tram stopped (which was basically every few minutes). Most of the time I got nothing….
Well that killed off the lingering thoughts I had about returning to it on my bus trips to/from work.
Welcome to the joy and wonder that is a Niantic game unwashed hordes. This has been a thing on Ingress for a long while. it was just as controversial back when it was introduced there but ultimately it did contribute to the overall safety of players and innocent bystanders.
Not an issue for me traveling in on the tram. Missed a few stops but otherwise all good.
what is amazing is that the speed cap does not affect the in-game store. You can still buy poke balls and the other stuff they sell at full speed. Anyone that has ever played the game will realise that this takes more screen presses, navigation and concentration than spinning a poke stop. kill the fun = yes kill the money = noooooo..