Pokémon Go appears ready to limit the number of remote raids each player can battle in a day.
This week, fans spotted a change to the description of the game’s remote raid passes – premium items introduced during the early days of the Covid pandemic to allow Pokémon Go players to take part in raid battles from afar.
That change noted players “can join {0} Raids a day”, with the ultimate number as yet unset. After word of the change spread, this description was then quickly removed.
Eurogamer contacted Niantic to explain the change and ask if Pokémon Go was indeed planning to introduce a daily remote raid cap. In response, Niantic declined to comment.
The apparent change comes as Pokémon Go prepares to roll-out its next in-game season, which is due to begin in a week’s time. Each season typically brings new bonuses and tweaks to the game’s format, and has previously heralded changes to the game’s remaining Covid-era bonuses.
So @PokemonGoApp has updated the text of remote raid passes to indicate that we are soon to be limited to the amount of Remote Raids we can do in a single day
This is going to seriously impact how a lot of people play the game.
I think this is a very bad idea. pic.twitter.com/7MoxXQ11t2
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) February 20, 2023
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The vast majority of those bonuses have now either been rolled back or integrated as permanent parts of the game. However, a long-standing remote raid bonus does remain to boost damage for players battling remotely.
When initially added to the game by Niantic, remote raids were designed as a feature which would eventually become rebalanced to once again incentivise in-person gameplay when it was safe to do so.
Three years on, remote raiding has now become a core part of the game – and, many players would agree, the most convenient method of raiding. For Niantic, the introduction of remote raid passes has also proved lucrative, and helped surge profits from Pokémon Go in 2020 and 2021.
There’s no way remote raids will disappear from the game entirely – but this likely leaves Niantic with an issue over how to continue encouraging in-person play going forward.
Removing that bonus to remote raid damage (in effect, making remote players do less damage than those in person) seems a messy solution, and one which would likely only lead to confusion over previously-accessible raid battles becoming too tough to beat.