Pokemon GO has reportedly begun to add new PokeStops and Gyms. Fans say that new locations have begun to pop up all over the globe.
On social media, fans who play both Ingress and Pokemon GO (which are both developed by Niantic), are reporting that the former has seen an "influx" of new portals, which are that game's version of PokeStops and Gyms. It seems that many of these new locations have been 'ported' over to Pokemon GO already.
It's unclear how Niantic has decided which locations to add and which to leave out but the new locations are being rolled out globally, from the United States to Germany, where towns and cities are getting new Gyms and PokeStops. One German player said that a nearby village got both a new Gym and PokeStop, which is good news for rural players who often feel let down by the mobile game.
And plenty more locations could be on the way too. In September, 2015, Niantic revealed that it had a backlog of 24 million Ingress portal submissions to review; a number that has surely skyrocketed since the release of Pokemon GO in 2016. On top of this, a tweet posted by the developer last week confirmed that although it's not accepting Pokestop suggestions right now, it is "working on a way to enable submissions in the future."
An influx of new Pokemon GO locations would usually be no bad thing. For players out in the sticks, it could mean that they do not have to travel as far to use the feature. Meanwhile, for those in in places like Buffalo, New York where some PokeStops and Gyms are turned off at certain points during the day, it will give people easier access to them. Likewise for people near PokeStops and Gyms that would require them to trespass in order to access them.
But on the other hand, there are ongoing concerns regarding Gyms in particular. Spoofers have taken over the Gyms in many locations, say fans, and Niantic needs to do a better job of combatting this. The developer recently began shadowbanning Pokemon GO cheaters to address this but fans argue that until the problem is properly resolved, introducing new Gyms is pointless as players thousands of miles away without proper access to the Gym will take it over through improper methods.
Pokemon GO is available on iOS and Android.