Reactions to the news include death threats to devs and transphobic comments in Niantic’s Twitter replies.
Gamers continue to have a completely normal one this week as harassment of Resident Evil 4 Remake’s Ada Wong has been followed up with death threats against Pokemon Go‘s community manager. The death threat comes after Niantic confirmed it will make remote raid passes more expensive and limit the number trainers can use daily.
Pokemon Go’s community manager Tyler revealed they received their first death threat in the wake of the announcement (via Dexerto). “Got my first death threat,” Tyler tweeted. “I look at what people say (regarding my line of work), but this is not an official line of communication for Niantic. If you want me to see your feedback, please be constructive.”
Sadly, the most surprising part of Tyler receiving a death threat as Pokemon Go’s community manager is the reveal that it’s their first. Niantic has made a number of controversial Pokemon Go decisions, usually, regarding features, it plans to limit or roll back entirely, and while some players react in a normal way in attempts to voice their displeasure, there are always a few who take things way too far.
Thank you all for your kind messages. For the record, I'm okay. Still a crappy situation, but I'm fine. Working with internal safety teams to make sure I am safe and protected. 💙
— Tyler 🌸adorned with cherry blossoms🌸 (@PlayerOneTyler) April 3, 2023
On top of the death threat, Niantic has been forced to hide a number of replies to a tweet it published in celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility. The replies to that tweet are not the place to voice concerns about remote raid passes whether transphobic in nature or not, and again predictably, quite a few of them are.
Not all Pokemon Go players upset with the imminent remote raid pass changes have resorted to transphobia and death threats. A large group of players has instead pledged to go on strike for a full week starting from April 6, committing to spending absolutely no money for an entire week in an attempt to send a message to Niantic. While the studio has made a lot of controversial changes to Pokemon Go, this appears to be the breaking point for a lot of you.