Pokémon Go’s game director shares reasoning behind the return of three-hour Community Day events

Niantic is receiving some backlash following the recent announcement of bringing back three-hour Community Days to Pokémon Go. The upcoming Pokémon Go Community Day for April 2022 will feature Stufful, a Pokémon making its debut. This event will also be the first time Community Day events are reverting to the old three-hour system after the current six-hour timer was added to the game following the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns.

Pokémon Go’s game director, Michael Steranka, shared some insight into this choice. When asked about the logical reasoning behind the decision, Steranka said, “Actually, one of the things that prompted us to re-evaluate the Community Day format was calls from Trainers to revert it to three hours. After seeing that feedback, we took a look at our data and saw that less than five percent of players played longer than three hours on Community Day.”

According to Steranka, it wasn’t only the player’s feedback, but the data supported the choice. While the data may support that players are only playing for a small amount of time during the event, the increased length may provide everyone more flexibility in their overall schedule, making it accessible to more players overall, even if they don’t play the entire time.

However, Steranka hopes that players will try it for themselves when the April 2022 event rolls out. When discussing how some of these changes might seem restrictive, Steranka shared that if players have not attended a Pokemon Go event in person or in their neighborhood, the April 23 Community Day is a prime opportunity for them to experience it for themselves and see what it’s like to share it with a real community around them, enriching the experience.

So far, the immediate feedback from many players within the community seems to be negative. PvPoke tweeted they were echoing Alfindeol, an avid Pokémon Go PvPer, and shared, “Niantic has a vision for what the Community Day Experience is supposed to be, but this isn’t compatible with everyone’s schedules or preferences. I hope they can take all feedback into consideration even if it challenges that vision.”

Joe Merrik, the webmaster and creator of Serebii.com, shared his thoughts on Twitter and said, “The way I see it, Niantic is wanting people to go out and play. That’s fine, especially as places open up. However, stripping back content/mechanics already in the game, be it through reduced time or reduction of effectiveness of items you pay for, is the wrong way to go about.”

The April 2022 Community Day will be on April 23 from 2 PM to 5 PM in your local time zone, featuring Stufful. Although Niantic appears to be affirming its stance, the company has made changes before listening to community feedback. We’d like to see what steps it takes to work with Pokémon Go players to create a more enjoyable experience while still keeping their core beliefs of the game.