As fears of the coronavirus delay events like the Minecraft Festival, Pokemon GO seems to be following suit. Players have noticed some changes in-game, and they are wondering if it connected to fears of a worldwide pandemic.
The coronavirus, which began in China with the new year, has been spreading across the world with frightening speed. It's infected thousands, and killed 3,000 people, and causing many to change plans, cancel events, and even has some companies, like Bungie, making their employees work from home. The virus is easily transmissible, making fears of a real worldwide quarantine situation very real.
Data miners have discovered that Drop Levels of several items have been lowered from 100 to 1, which makes those items easier to find. They will now most likely be accessible in regular Pokestops or in quests rather than in certain locations. The dataminers have debated if this change is to encourage people to continue to play even if they are stuck at home with fears of the coronavirus. It will encourage Pokemon GO players to still want to play, even without travel.
Considering that Pokemon GO relies on people leaving their homes and traveling about town to pick up Pokemon and battle gyms, it would make sense for the Japanese-based company to make some changes to the game, making it easier for people who are quarantined or afraid to leave their homes still able to play. The Pokemon Company has already canceled a variety of events, so rumors of Pokemon GO changing the way players can play the game would make sense.
As companies continue to cancel events, like TwitchCon in Amsterdam, gamers can expect delays, changes, and shortages as the coronavirus continues to spread. Although some experts expect the coronavirus to slow with the warmer weather, there will still be many individuals worldwide under quarantine.
So if Pokemon GO players wind up not being able to play as usual because they are stuck at home, these changes will most likely make the game more accessible again. Hopefully, Niantic and other mobile game companies will continue to make changes for players that wish to stay home instead of traveling around with fears of the virus continuing to spread. Perhaps Niantic will even make changes to the new PvP Battle League Raid events to make them easier to do from home as well.
Pokemon GO is available on most mobile devices.
Source: Dexerto