Pokemon Go is without question one of the most unexpected phenomena of 2016 so far, at least where the mobile industry is concerned. The game is based on another mobile game from Niantic that saw limited success, but tossing Nintendo’s Pokemon characters into the mix sent people into a frenzy. The result is the most popular augmented reality game in history — it even drove Apple to a record month in terms of App Store billings and money paid to developers.
As much as people love the game though, it can also be infuriating. Server troubles regularly prevent people from catching Pokemon, and the bugs and glitches in Pokemon Go can make gameplay impossible at times. Well, we have some bad news, Pokemon Go trainers…
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First, some good news: according to Niantic, the company has been putting tremendous time and effort into squashing bugs, fixing glitches and developing cool new features to further enhance Pokemon Go. In fact, as we covered earlier on Thursday, one of the most useful features of Pokemon Go that had previously been removed due to glitches will soon be added back to the game.
Now, the bad news: All those bug fixes and cool new features are taking a back seat to Niantic’s efforts to make more money.
“We have been working long hours to fix many other bugs and bring some exciting new features to Pokémon GO in the future,” the developer said in a post on Facebook. “However, next up for us is the continued roll-out of Pokémon GO to more countries around the world.” In other words, pushing a glitchy game with tons of server issues out to new markets is more of a priority than improving the user experience. Hey, at least they’re up front about it.
