10 Fan Backlashes That SAVED Video Games
1. Spin Distance For Gyms & Pokéstops - Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go is a phenomenally successful game, grossing more than $6 billion in revenue between 2016 and 2020 alone, though developers Niantic risked killing the cash cow during its most commercially fertile period.
At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Niantic decided to expand the game's original interaction radius with gyms and Pokéstops from 40 meters to 80 meters, allowing players to keep playing without risking closeness with other people.
But even while the COVID-19 Delta variant was raging in July 2021, Niantic opted to revert back to the original 40-meter radius, as angered millions of fans worldwide, both for health concerns and because the 80-meter radius made the game more accessible for many disabled players.
Niantic originally refused to restore the 80-meter radius, but as the pressure intensified with the #HearUsNiantic Twitter campaign, the studio buckled within a few weeks and agreed to make 80 meters the permanent radius.
And like that, a game which threatened to encourage players to endanger themselves in the height of a global pandemic avoided a huge PR disaster by simply letting people play in the way they'd become accustomed to.
Given that 2020 was the most profitable year in the history of Pokémon Go, it would've been supremely stupid not to listen to fans on this one.