#HearUsNiantic – Will an Official Statement Be Made?

On April 4th, 2023, the #HearUsNiantic movement was revived once again. The Pokeminers spearheaded the revival with a tweet outlining the community’s concerns over the recently announced remote raid pass changes and the current state of Pokémon Go.

They took note of how this change greatly affects the online communities that have formed and grown over the last three years since Niantic implemented remote raids into the game, along with rural and disabled Trainers all over the globe. Not long after the initial tweet was pushed, it spread like wildfire.

Tweets were being posted in the thousands. Several high-tier names in the Pokémon Go community such as The Trainer Club, Mystic7, and ZoeTwoDots came forward to further push the movement. 

Just a week prior to the movement being revived, a petition was created by Ali Vongsathian of Pokémon Go San Diego. The petition called for the reversion of the changes made to remote raid passes. At the time of writing, the petition has grown to over 109,000 signatures. The petition, along with the movement, continues to grow with each passing day. However, it all seems to fall on deaf ears.

Two weeks in, no response

Two weeks since the movement started, Niantic has still not yet issued an official statement. This has resulted in many community members and content creators calling on Niantic to acknowledge the movement and create a more open form of communication between them and the player base. 

Due to the lack of a response, this has also resulted in numerous other issues to come to the limelight as well. Based on previous years events and announcements, GO Fest would have been announced around the end of March or the beginning of April. Niantic still has not yet announced GO Fest 2023 details.

If we were to utilize 2022’s Seattle GO Fest dates, that would mean that GO Fest 2023 is just over three months away, which to many, is cutting the wire way too close for Trainers to be able to attend the event.

In a Reddit post on the Pokémon Go subreddit by user Uunikana, they outlined the numerous changes that Niantic has implemented into the game in the last year. They state, “These are the changes from the past year. If they launched them all at once like this, would it be just a loud minority that would be complaining?”.

Many of these changes have been Niantic’s attempt to bring the game back to its pre-pandemic days. However, the game and the player base has evolved over the last three years. Many Trainers consider the features that were in place during the pandemic pushed the game to be “peak Pokémon Go”, and the changes being made only inhibit Trainer happiness and success. 

Pokémon Go has been an important part of many Trainers’ lives and it continues to be a game that the community wants to see flourish and succeed. Memories and friendships have been made, even in the worst circumstances. The community outcry is justified, though does Niantic feel the same? Will we see an official statement be made? Time will tell. 

We have reached out to The Pokémon Company International and Niantic, but they did not immediately respond to comment.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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