Niantic reverted some of the pandemic-era changes made to Pokémon Go within the US and New Zealand on Sunday, together with lowering the gap you should be from the bodily real-world areas of Pokéstops and Gyms to work together with them. The firm announced the changes in June and has determined to maneuver ahead with its plans, despite backlash over the modifications.

The distance you’ll must be from real-world areas is successfully halved as a part of the brand new replace, going from a most of 80 meters (round 262 toes) to work together with a Pokéstop, to the sport’s authentic 40 meters (round 131 toes), according to Dot Esports. There have been a number of causes for Niantic to double the gap initially, from lowering crowding throughout a pandemic, to simply making it a bit simpler to gather objects with out theoretically having to go away your own home. The change didn’t reinvent the sport however gamers considered growing the interplay distance as a precious accessibility enchancment that’s now gone.

Niantic additionally modified the effectiveness of Incense and the variety of items you may obtain in-game out of your Buddy Pokémon. As a part of its modifications in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Niantic made the pokémon-attracting Incense merchandise simpler throughout the board, however now it’ll solely be whilst you’re transferring. Gifts from Buddy Pokémon have been equally boosted to as much as 5 items at a time at as much as thrice per day as a part of Niantic’s modifications, however now the corporate says “the frequency of these gifts from Buddy Pokémon will be reduced” after the most recent replace.

Tweaks like these start to deliver Pokémon Go again to its pre-pandemic self, even when Niantic plans to maintain another modifications within the course of, like an elevated stock dimension. Remote Raids, the power to take part in massive battles with legendary pokémon with out having to be there bodily, are additionally sticking round. However, Niantic does plan to alter the $0.99 a pop characteristic barely: in response to Niantic, “in the future, Trainers joining the Raid remotely will do less damage than Trainers joining in-person.”

Collectively, it appears the modifications are supposed to push gamers again out into the world and play extra in particular person, which is sensible given Niantic’s bread and butter is collecting location data. The timing is only a bit unlucky. COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the US because of the delta variant, and discovering causes to assemble in massive teams to gather pocket monsters most likely shouldn’t be excessive on anybody’s checklist.

You can see the total checklist of modifications for Pokémon Go on Niantic’s website.