Waryas, the lead developer behind FastPokeMaps shared more information on how and why the service was shut down. It’s an emotional letter explaining a lot of his personal motivation, struggles and decisions.

We have always been a supporter of FastPokeMap. Mostly due to the fact it is what kept us playing. It’s what kept a lot of our friends playing during August and September, aka “the great Pokemon GO depression” period.

We’re transcribing his open letter in full details here, you can find the original on TwitLonger.

Farewell FastPokeMap, Hello Local Maps and SF trackers.

“Oh man this is going to be one hell of a post, but I think I owe everyone a full explanation of what happened that just made me give up.

Just had the most tormented sleep night but I managed to have the strength to accept FastPokeMap is probably down for good in its current state. It might come back but under another form and something closer to what Niantic allows (We will never win the cat & mouse game)

I released FastPokeMap when PokeVision shutdown and they removed 3 steps completely. It has been exactly 3 months. Three months of instant coding and work put into a product NOT ALLOWED by the game developers but loved by millions of players worldwide.

What made FastPokeMap different? Our scanning range, our ease of use and for some people the personality of the leader (me) who was some sort of a douche but always cared for the well being of his visitors.

In the past three months, I can’t count the number of personal sacrifice I did in my professional life or personal life to make sure FastPokeMap always met my criteria of a “good tracker” : To work everywhere, with no favoritism between rural areas and dense cities. Everyone on an equal ground.

FastPokeMap generated a LOT of revenue. When I say a lot I’m talking about over 60-80k dollar per month. No I didn’t make lots of profits. 90-95% of the money went back into infrastructure (Proxies money, map money, server money, donating helpers).
If i had made some profits after all these expenses, then yes I kept the money for myself but I saw it as a “bonus” to what I did : Make people happy.

But more than making others happy, FPM was something special to me. I’ve been fighting with a crippling personality disorder (borderline) for years. FPM helped me find some kind of healthy outlet so I could stay stable as a person. It was a healthy outlet for me. Something that finally replaced all the meds (that never worked mind you) and therapy I’ve been doing for the past year. And it worked pretty damn well. I was having a positive impact on people’s lives and I wasn’t having emotional outburst anymore, spending all that energy on FPM kept my mind busy. It was a win-win for you guys and for me as well.

Some people will think I’m full of s*** or just making excuses to explain my actions. So be it. But I know how how FPM made me feel and FPM was way more than just a website for me. It was my baby. Something I finally got to express my talent and creativity with. I didn’t have the happiest life and FPM was finally something that I did good in my life. it made me proud. It made me feel like I’m not worthless. I finally felt like my creativity reached the world. That the world embraced it. It made me fucking feel good about myself. Being the 300th most visited site worldwide is probably a feat I’ll never achieve again and I will say it again: It was one hell of an adventure that I don’t regret. I made MANY friends, met so MANY great people and heard so MANY great stories and I’m fucking proud of it.

The dev community and the people who helped FPM opened my eyes about my own lack of skill. I met so many talented developpers way better than me. And you know what? Unlike other jealous devs, when I met someone WAY more talented than me it just excites me and push me to learn from them, it pushes me to become better at it too.

Thank you Elfin, thank you V, thank you Yuki, thank you Jekka. You guys are the reason I didn’t give up on FastPokeMap after only one week, you’re the reason we lasted so long.

Thank you Niantic, without you, all of it wouldn’t have been possible. You did change my life like you changed countless other trainers. You made me realize I have it in me to lead ambitious projects. I will apply it to my real job now.

And at last, thank you trainers, for believing in FastPokeMap for so long and putting up with all my drama, for supporting FastPokeMap during its lifespan. You guys were my happiness and the reason I even put up through all this hardship.

Niantic you created a game that brought us all here together, the ball is in your court now. Don’t ruin it. Make Pokemon GO great again!
But please for the love of god, travel to some rural cities and play your own game and experience how it feels like. The world isn’t just consisting of big cities. The world isn’t just San francisco.

Waryas out.”