Pokemon GO players are accusing Niantic of gaslighting them when attempting to clarify information about the game's weekly bonuses. Each week, players may take advantage of bonuses in Pokemon GO to additional rewards including Candy, Berries, and hearts for their Buddy Pokemon.
Sustainability Week returns to Pokemon GO in a limited-time event that lasts until April 26 at 8 p.m. local time. During Sustainability Week 2023, players may evolve Bounsweet into Steenee with 25 Bounsweet Candy, and Steenee may evolve into Tsareena with 100 Bounsweet Candy. Additionally, a number of bonuses are active during the event including additional gifts from Buddy Pokemon and distance being reduced for certain rewards. Some of these bonuses may have been recently changed by Niantic according to unhappy players in the Reddit community, however.
Reddit user BobathonMcBobface and fellow Pokemon GO players accuse game developer Niantic of gaslighting them when contacting support about the ongoing Sustainability Week 2023 event. According to Niantic Support, half distance bonuses for Candy, Candy XL, and Mega Energy are not listed as bonuses for the Pokemon GO Sustainability Week 2023 event. Niantic Support tells BobathonMcBobface not to rely on unofficial sources for information about Pokemon GO events and encourages the player to visit Niantic's official channels for more information. However, the official in-game notification for Sustainability Week 2023 in Pokemon GO clearly states that half distance bonuses for Candy are active for the event duration. As a result, players are unhappy with Niantic for potentially gaslighting the community and lying to them about the bonuses that are currently active in Pokemon GO.
Some Pokemon GO players believe Niantic Support's response to BobathonMcBobface's inquiry may have been copied and pasted from another support inquiry. Despite the in-game notification states that half distance bonuses are active in Pokemon GO, players believe Niantic may have secretly changed the bonuses without notifying the community. As a result, players are unhappy with how Niantic handles inquiries from the community, and some are now disinterested in participating in the Pokemon GO Sustainability Week event.
The miscommunication between Niantic and its community leads to frustration and uncertainty from Pokemon GO players. The community wishes for Pokemon GO to be in its best state possible, and a clear and consistent line of communication between Niantic and its players is crucial. Players feeling unhappy with Niantic may not bode well for the community's morale going into future Pokemon GO events.
At the very least, players may still catch Bounsweet in Pokemon GO as originally intended during the Sustainability Week 2023 event. The Pokemon GO player base may earn additional rewards by completing Field Research Tasks as well.
Pokemon GO is available now for Android and iOS.
Source: Reddit