Pokémon Go, a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game, developed and launched in July 2016, by Niantic, has taken the gaming world by storm. So much so that the value of the traded stocks of Nintendo, 32 percent stake owners of the Pokémon franchise, rose to over $9 billion within five days of the release of the game. It is estimated that over 100 million people have downloaded the game since its debut.
Now Niantic wants to make upgrades to the popular game to enhance the user experience, announcing that it is testing a new feature it terms “The Nearby” Tracking system. Does this sound like gaming bliss for the millions of dedicated players? It should but… The Nearby tracking feature in Pokémon Go, is designed to permit players to locate where Pokémon is hiding, thereby eliminating the need to aimlessly search for it.
However, the update, which some early testers described as a functional but confusing ‘footprint’ system(three footprints depicting far, one footprint denoting close-by) was broken within two to three days of the update’s launch.
The update went from working to not functioning at all (where Pokémon showed three footprints at all times). This situation prompted the update’s complete removal. Niantic subsequently announced that the Nearby Tracking feature had been reworked, stating, however, that the version will only be accessible to a subset of players.
Feedback from this subset of users (generally believed to be gamers in the San Francisco area), stated that the beta version of the “Nearby” drawer system has two sections: ‘Nearby’ and ‘Sightings’. ‘Nearby’ Pokémon are those situated close to Pokestops. A tap on ‘Nearby’ reveal which Pokestop a player should head to. ‘Sightings’ have Pokémon with grass behind them, rather than a Pokestop image; and it means that the Pokémon are situated in the wild, hence the player will have to seek them without guidance.
I will implore players of Pokémon Go to give Niantic some time to really fiddle with the system, in order to churn out a solid version, free of technical and many other associated glitches. This is exactly what these tests will achieve; giving Niantic useful feedback to work with.