One of the subtler changes introduced with last week’s updates to Pokemon Go has made catching the little ‘Mons a lot harder. This affects even extremely weak Pokemon, and as a result, players are burning through more Pokeballs and seeing more Pokemon run away than they were before. Pokeballs must either be collected slowly from Pokestops and leveling up or purchased for real money in the app’s in-game store, so players are understandably frustrated about the change.
Now, developer Niantic has acknowledged the problem, saying the change constitutes a bug and that it will be rectified. Via Pokemon Go‘s official Twitter page:
Trainers, a new bug affecting throw accuracy increases the odds of escape and omits the XP bonus. We are working on a fix, stay tuned…
Some players aren’t buying the “bug” explanation, believing it was a deliberate decision that Niantic is now reversing in response to backlash. For my money, I’m willing to believe the change in capture rate was accidental: for one, the game is full of bugs already, and not just of the Caterpie variety; for another, it was making a crapload of money even before the change.
Niantic has not offered a timeline for this or other incoming fixes, but as a small company (LinkedIn lists it as under 50 employees) still in the midst of an international roll-out, that’s to be expected. At least the servers have started to stabilize!
(h/t The Mary Sue.)
