Niantic Is Tweaking 'Pokemon Go' For Indoor Play

Niantic understands the burden of players not being able to go outside due to the worldwide lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To say the least, they have no choice but to adhere to the government's protocol: stay at home or risk being infected by the virus that have already caused the death of thousands.

In a recent “Stay Safe” blog, Niantic addressed their growing community of their plans to pursue an effort to keep players on their toes while in the comforts of their homes. While their mission to “get people outside, exercise and explore the world” stays put, Niantic also believes that indoor gameplay is a subset of their outdoor platform.

“Now is the time for us to prioritize this work, with the key challenge of making playing indoors as exciting and innovative as our outdoor gameplay,” the blog stated.

Along this line, Niantic has added several changes to their games so that players can still enjoy what they love at home. For one, the game developer will be tweaking its Adventure Sync to convert household chores and exercise to game achievements, while “Pokemon Go” Raid Battles can be done at home in the coming days.

Niantic will also work on their in-game virtual social features for player to communicate with each other “when they can't meet in real life."

Engadget also pointed that Niantic is also working on how they can go about their live events, particularly the “Pokemon Go Fest.” The same can be said with “Go Battle League” wherein players can go head to head anytime, anywhere and yes, it can be done at home.

Niantic also has plans for “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” and “Ingress Portals” with in-game adjustments that stick with the stay-at-home scheme.