After the most recent Pokemon GO update got rid of the in-game tracking feature and disabled third-party apps to track down Pokemon, angry fans are now demanding refunds.
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How quickly the mighty sometimes fall.
Seemingly taking over the world after it launched in early July, Pokemon GO has been breaking app records at every turn. It took less a day for the game to top both the most downloaded and top grossing charts. It overtook Tinder and then Twitter as the most used mobile app, and filled the massive Hall H for a panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
But Pokemon GO has been riddled with problems since its launch and now those issues are quickly catching up with the game. Aside from the well-documented server issues, one of the biggest problems facing the game recently has been that the tracking system has been broken. The solution by Niantic was to remove the tracking system from the game, and that has led to some fans demanding refunds.
The way it was supposed to work was that there would be footsteps under the list of Pokemon nearby. No footsteps meant players were right on top of a Pokemon, one step meant meant it was close, two a little further away, and three meant a little more walking was required. But about a week ago fans started noticing that everything was showing up with three footsteps under the near by Pokemon even if they were popping up right in front of them.
Players found ways around this broken system by downloading third-party apps, like Pokevision, that tracked Pokemon better than Pokemon GO by also providing information on how long Pokemon would stay in a certain location. But Niantic decided this was cheating the system and when the most recent update was released over the weekend, it disabled the use of all third-party tracking apps, while also getting rid of the game’s tracking system.
So now Pokemon GO is a game all about hunting monsters with no way for players to track the very creatures they are supposed to be hunting. The game still works, but now it involves players hoping they are on the right path to the right Pokemon. Needless to say, this development has angered fans to the point that people are demanding refunds for the money they spent on micro-transactions in the app.
A Reddit feed has popped up with detailed instructions on how to go about getting a refund for both Android and Apple users. It seems like Apple is granting refunds for any purchase made during the game’s lifespan, but Android is only providing refunds from 24-48 hours after the purchase. This writer has not tried to get a refund, but the author of an article on the subject for Forbes followed the refund instructions and says the process works perfectly.
Players asking for their money back is a significant sign that Pokemon GO is in some real trouble. It always seemed pretty improbable that the app would continue being the giant cultural force it was when it launched given the very simplistic nature of the app – no trading, no way to train Pokemon or choose what attacks they could learn, a gym battle system that was very different from the video games and simply involved tapping the screen.
But to see Pokemon GO in this much trouble so quickly is still pretty shocking and proof that 90s nostalgia can only sustain a game’s popularity for so long.
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