The latest Pokemon Go update 0.275.0 got players excited after discovering that it doubled the range at which catchable Pokemon appear on the map from 40 meters to 80 meters. Despite initial reports suggesting the change was intentional, Niantic has now said the buff was a bug that will be rolled back.
Because the update notes were so vague, only listing as “quality of life updates; minor bug fixes and performance improvements”, players were initially unsure if the update was working as intended. Various reports from Pokémon content creators initially seemed to confirm that the radius increase was indeed intentional, with Pokémon Go Hub explaining that “we were told this was not a bug.” The now-deleted tweets cited by Kotaku also show confirmation from internal sources that the update was working as intended.
After players began celebrating the update as one of the best quality-of-life updates in recent Pokémon Go history, showing off some heavily populated units Spotlight Hour screenshotsNiantic has now said that the spawn radius increase was in fact a mistake.
Some trainers may have experienced an increase in the current interaction radius. This was the unintended effect of a bug fix that was intended to improve the Pokémon encounter experience when your device is experiencing GPS drift. While we’re rolling back this change, we’ll be taking your…
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) June 27, 2023
Niantic’s update promises that it will take player feedback about the bug into account when planning future patches, though the decision to revert the update is just the latest in a series of unpopular decisions from the developer. The recent changes to Remote Raid Passes were controversial with players, with those living in rural areas, as well as disabled players, pointing out that the game has only gotten more difficult for them as fans of the era of Covid have slowly receded.
For now, some players advise turning off auto-update for the Pokemon Go app, in order to enjoy the highest spawn distance for as long as possible.