Pokemon GO developer Niantic rolls out a new anti-cheat system that makes rare Pokemon disappear. This is just the latest attempt by the developer to dissuade players from misusing the game, as it also threatened to ban cheaters as well.

According to posts made in a Pokemon GO development Discord channel, Niantic has released a new update to the game's servers that makes it so that cheaters are unable to see rare Pokemon spawns. The measure targets previously flagged accounts and bot accounts for third-party Pokemon GO tracking apps - which are often used by spoofers to pick up rare Pokemon not available to them in their actual location.

As the new measure is only aimed to take out Pokemon GO accounts that are already known to Niantic as "bots" or as violating the game's Terms of Service, there are questions about how useful this change will be.  The teams behind some of these tracking apps are already said to have created new accounts to get around this, which limits the effectiveness unless Niantic can quickly get a handle on these ones too. Though, the developer has previously forced the shutdown of major third-party tracking apps, so maybe it will try that again here for a double, anti-cheat whammy.

However, this isn't the only concern that Niantic will need to address, as some players fear that their accounts will be hit with a rare Pokemon block as well. Some say that they have only used third-party apps for the sole reason that the built-in Pokemon GO features just don't cut it, and these apps are a way to get around that. Players specifically mentioned IV (individual value) calculators which aid them in getting Pokemon with higher CP (Combat Power) and say that the game can be frustrating without them, so it would be unfair if Niantic punished them alongside spoofers.

This poses a significant headache for Niantic. Players continue to complain about Pokemon GO GPS spoofing and say that it ruins the game, but any measures that it takes to address this (like disappearing rares) risk alienating core Pokemon GO players. These core players are those that regularly play and spend money on the game, but also use third-party apps to make the most of the mobile hit, and so anything that turns these away could be disastrous for Niantic. It will be interesting to see how the developer proceeds.

Pokemon GO is available for iOS and Android.

Source: Pokemon GO Hub