Despite Niantic telling Pokemon Go players that it has a “blockbuster slate of summer features” coming up, the summer has been quite a disappointment thus far.
In June, we mentioned the poor raid options, especially Shadow Articuno on weekends which, as we feared, will stay with us all summer long. July thus far hasn’t improved much for raids; Niantic introduced the broken and buggy Pokemon Showcases (assuming you’re even able to do them), it saw a whole log-in option fail during an event the studio will not make up (while simultaneously blaming players for not having a plan B for the company’s mistake), and it’s ready to launch an obvious cash-grab event in the guise of future repeat egg-events (we can’t justify referring to these three-hour events as “day” events at this point).
In today’s Massively on the Go, let’s discuss the latest feature Niantic’s sleeping on: the Pokemon Go Plus+ device and its connection to the game’s new sleep tracking feature.
Plus under
Even before the new device was released, Niantic launched a new device settings option that introduced bugs that stop said devices from working, naturally leading some people to reconsider their Plus+ purchases even before the device was released on July 14th. One would think that, at the least, these bugs would affect the old devices because of Niantic hyper-focusing on the new product, but that’s not true.
On release day, I saw my device refuse to turn off settings as well as refuse to turn some on. Fixes ranged from simply turning non-functioning options on and off in the settings to wholly restarting the app. Niantic attempted to address these problems but only caused more.
Now, Niantic already has an established reputation for poor testing prior to launch and being generally bad at quashing bugs unless they threaten the company’s bottom line. But what’s even more embarrassing is that many of these features – auto-catching and auto-spinning – have been around for years on non-official devices, without introducing bugs. I say this as someone who has witnessed a lot of players, both inside and outside my personal circle, opt for unofficial products for daily use as Nintendo refused to release more devices.
While the ability to choose which kind of ball you can catch with on the device is new, making it available only for button-click-catches seems to defeat the purpose of the new official auto-catching option. Why would you include a new option many players have already had access to unofficially but not attach a new feature to it? As someone who has witnessed many misses from auto-catches, I know the advantage of the click option has always been the ease to switch between auto and hand-catching; this new feature doesn’t align with either of those.
We’re not done yet. As you can see in the header, the device is huge. Many of my friends also choose to use offbrand items because they’re discreet. They can have the device running in the background while they are at work or in a non-gaming social setting. It’s a big reason I stuck with the original Go+: It’s small, it’s easy to conceal, and it allows me to multitask. In fact, I can actually wear it while I’m typing this article without it interfering with anything, and yes, I can still push the button to catch something if need be.
This thing is literally so cringe 🤣🤣🤣🤣 took it with me for dinner with @RoneRackal and it’s lighting up like a friggin disco at every stop and spawn. I had it in my pocket and it was still lighting up. It’s a good thing I love cringe. Gosh. https://t.co/rGUyHrHYof pic.twitter.com/mHigYL95Yl
— Lauren Bertoni (@Lauren_lolly_) July 14, 2023
Everything about this device is cringy. Oh, vibrations and lights are still an issue as you can see above, despite player confusion and in spite of players making guides to remove the vibration motor since 2016; unsurprisingly, “silent mode” is also a feature unofficial devices have had for years now. But no, the new device been made by Nintendo for not just POGO but also Pokemon Sleep, and it includes a song pikachu sings when you try to use the sleep recording feature.
While Pokemon has always been aimed at all ages (not specifically kids, as some Pokedex entries are nightmare-inducing), the fact that POGO requires a lot of travel autonomy plus Sleep tracking doesn’t make either games’ target audience kids. The device should have more broad-appeal but simply doesn’t. Given the bugs, poorly thought-out features, and cringy design, patient players may wish to wait for better unofficial options in the future. Heck, having tried the game with Pokemon Sleep, I even wonder whether that base game is slightly better without it if you don’t include rewards, as using the Plus+ locks you out of audio recordings made while sleeping. It’s very hard to justify this device right now between two games, especially for POGO players who thought it might lead to new gameplay or rewards.
 
Underwhelming experience and rewards
Thus far, the rewards from the sleep mode are underwhelming. At best, you get a one-time special research that awards hat-Snorlaxes, a pokemon that basically is only useful in certain PvP cups and in a faaar third place for best gym defender. In the short term, though, I’ve received roughly 2k in stardust and a sticker a day, which are not much to write home about, and I’m not the only one getting poor rewards. The only saving grace is that your current buddy also gets +2 bonus hearts.
If you’re leveling up a new buddy, this is great. However, as I mentioned all the way back in December 2020 after having some time with the huge Go Beyond update, I noted that the buddy system has become massively bloated. It’s essentially a feature dumpster that has far too much connected to it (catch assist, both tiers of candy generation, Mega Energy, quests that use candy generation or hearts as a metric, and so on). I have some friends who change buddies a lot, but many of us are walking Best Buddies, so bonus hearts are a complete waste on those ‘mon.
Granted, the only thing you have to do to get these rewards is sleep and give the data to Niantic to do whatever it wants with it. While the same is true for Pokemon Sleep, TPC at least designed some gameplay around that without having, well, Niantic’s history of actually designing games that endanger players. POGOÂ simply doles out rewards without adding any gameplay, which may be for the best the way the last few features have been rolled out.
I’m not sure what exactly the “blockbuster slate of features” is supposed to include, but thus far, nothing Niantic released this summer would be worth spending money on. The sleep device may be Nintendo’s, but Niantic’s inability to make it properly work with its tech or incorporate the data into gameplay is 100% on Niantic, only furthering the idea that the abandoned whaling-vessel company seems to survive solely off of the back of the Pokemon franchise.
Hi Jonny! Could you please factory reset Pokémon GO Plus + using the steps from this article (https://t.co/L5TMeCDwBO) to see if it helps? Also, you can check out the Pokémon Company’s guide (https://t.co/JUptetvDwf) for additional troubleshooting tips. Keep us in the loop! ^SF
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) July 18, 2023
7/19 Update: After attempting to blame everyone else, Niantic is now asking players to factory reset the device. Remember to upload all data to relevant games before doing this, as your data will be lost! Whether or not this will actually work remains to be scene, but so far, I’ve encountered new pairing issues and a loss of sleep data specifically taken to test the reset.
7/19 Update 2: I’ve now tried and failed to upload new Plus+ data twice. Pokemon Sleep accepted the data, but not POGO. At this point, I would recommend players not use the factory reset option.
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
