Niantic explorers,

Earlier in the year we adjusted our real-world games to reflect the uncertainty and unknowns of real world events, with the hope of giving our global community of players ways to stay entertained and socially connected from their homes.

As the world continues to change, we are keeping some of these temporary changes while bringing some of the magic of exploration back to our games. Increased interaction distances to in-game locations for Pokémon GO will remain for the foreseeable future, and multiplayer features like the Remote Raid Pass in Pokémon GO and the Knight Bus in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are here to stay. In addition, Pokémon GO’s increased Gift inventory limit of 20, Incense price reduction and increased duration, and the bonus Stardust and XP for the first Pokémon catch of the day will remain as game balance improvements.

We have heard from our explorers that they enjoy playing while safely walking and discovering the real world. This summer, we saw this firsthand when millions of Trainers from 124 different countries and territories walked an average of 15 KM during Pokémon GO Fest 2020. As a result, we’ll soon revert walking distances for Eggs and Incense in Pokémon GO so that players can enjoy the game while on foot. Ingress will also revert some of its temporary adjustments, and release a new competitive feature, Battle Beacons. As always, we encourage players to follow local health and safety guidelines (such as wearing masks and keeping at least six feet of distance from other people).

While we hope our real-world games remain a bright spot in your lives, we want to thank our global player community for being that bright spot for us at Niantic.

Play safe, The Niantic team