Niantic has been pretty generous about making small, incremental updates for Pokémon GO, including a recently concluded Halloween event which shot the app atop the charts again and the introduction of Daily Bonuses to keep players actively playing the game on a daily basis, which is a needed curveball for the company in light of the constant dip in popularity it's suffering from.
Pokémon GO Gives You Reasons To Be Glued To Your Smartphone
Community members have found yet another incentive to keep players glued to their smartphones: Eevee now only hatches from 5 km Pokémon eggs, instead of being included as part of potential 10 km hatches, which proved a constant dismay for players seeking for rarer Pokémon as a reward for a sizable amount of steps.
Players received Pokémon eggs in the game after leveling up or sometimes, after visiting PokéStops. Each egg has a corresponding amount of required steps, ranging from 2 to 10 km. Eevee was previously included in the roster of Pokémon hatching from eggs which required 10 km worth of steps.
Aside from Eevee's shake-up, Pidgey and Rattata will no longer hatch from eggs. Additionally, rarer Pokémon will now appear more often. Where Pidgey, Rattata and Zubat were commonly found will now also include other, lesser-seen Pokémon.
"Professor Willow has discovered that Pidgey & Rattata no longer hatch from Eggs. He also found that Eevee now hatches from 5 km Eggs only," reads a tweet from the official game's Twitter account.
Users like those from The Silph Road, a dedicated subreddit for Pokémon GO, and hardcore Pokémon GO fans may be the type of players who will find this update more significant compared with the casual players of the game. For the former, it signals that Niantic, despite its occasional faux pas, does listen to what its user base wants.
Niantic Listening To Gamers
"I believe there comes proof that Niantic is actually listening to what we are saying. There was no reason to make the change other than the fact that so many players were getting upset." writes Reddit user CrazedArtistCat on the Pokémon GO subreddit.
Whether or not Niantic's recent touch-ups prove that it's listening to the longstanding howls of its user base, the bevy of changes seem to relieve the tirade of criticism it receives from upset fans, at least for a brief period.
Niantic still seems to be gearing up for winter, where it's expected to suffer a significant dip on daily active users because of the inclement weather. Whether Niantic's gearing up to foist players despite the imminent snowy season remains to be seen, but for now, the point is that Niantic is attuned to the interests of its audience.
