Even as Pokémon GO breaks records left and right, to call the game's United States launch a complete success would be inaccurate. Since day one, it has suffered from server issues, glitches and more, leaving more than a few players frustrated in the process.
The latest issue to plague the game is being referred to as the "three-step glitch," and it makes tracking down Pokémon even more difficult than usual. Normally, Pokémon GO's "nearby Pokémon" feature tells players how close a certain Pokémon is by displaying a number of footprints. One footprint means that particular pocket monster is extremely close, two means it's farther away and three means it's farther still.
This new glitch, however, makes it so that every nearby Pokémon appears to be three steps away, even if they are, in actuality, much closer, and no matter how far you walk you can't get to them. While players can still find the Pokémon by walking around, it makes hunting down specific Pokémon like trying to find a needle in a haystack, thanks to not knowing exactly how far away they are in reality. So far, it's unclear what exactly causes the glitch, but it appears to be a fairly widespread issue with which more than a few players currently have to deal.
There's currently no fix for the glitch, either. Developer Niantic has yet to comment on the issue or offer players any advice on how to return their game to normal. That means fans will simply have to endure the problem until further notice, but at least the rest of the game appears to be functioning as intended. Servers have stabilized somewhat since launch, though there are still rough periods. More and more businesses continue to capitalize on the game's success, with Yelp even adding a way to search for restaurants and businesses according to whether or not they have PokéStops nearby.
It seems like Pokémon GO isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and it is still yet to be released in numerous regions, including Nintendo's home country of Japan. The country will likely be one of the game's biggest markets, but it won't be getting Pokémon GO until the end of July due to concerns about the game's servers being unable to handle the additional load.
