Pokemon GO's Incense Controversy is a Bad Sign for Niantic's Rumored Game Campfire

gamerant.com:

For years now, Pokemon GO has offered fans a compelling alternate way to interact with their favorite collectible monsters. Rather than roaming around a fictional setting in search of Pokemon, fans of Pokemon GO can encounter monsters in the real world and get actively rewarded for walking around to find them. Over the years, Pokemon GO has added quite a few extra ways to reward fans for walking around, like earning bonus Candy from a Buddy Pokemon, but that doesn't mean the AR mobile game's relationship with player movement has always been stable. On the contrary, a new controversy about changes to Pokemon GO's Incense has opened old wounds.

Niantic recently tweaked Pokemon GO's Incense by drastically reducing the rate at which Pokemon spawn, while Incense is active unless players are moving while using Incense. That change has sparked online protests and criticism from the Pokemon GO community. While that's certainly negative for Pokemon GO itself, the latest battle with Niantic over Pokemon GO also matters because Niantic might release a new game in the near future. A new trademark suggests that something called Campfire is in development at Niantic, but Campfire could struggle to find an audience if Niantic's reputation is defined by player outrage.

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Pokemon GO fans opposed to the Incense change raise a lot of compelling points about the change to Incense, since it severely hampers Pokemon GO fans who don't have the time, location, or ability to walk around every day in search of Pokemon. Incense helps these players participate in the game's events, but now, it's hardly more effective than just waiting for random Pokemon spawns.

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