Niantic has banned or punished millions of Pokémon GO players, with the company announcing that five million faced punishments in 2020 alone. Pokémon GO remains one of the most popular mobile titles in the world and has maintained a dedicated fan following. However, it and Niantic's other augmented reality games have had a tough time stopping cheaters from ruining the experience for legitimate players. The issue only became more pronounced in 2020 when Niantic introduced a series of measures to allow users to play the game at home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is not the first time that Niantic has taken on cheaters in Pokémon GO. In January of this year, the developer settled a lawsuit with Global++. That company was responsible for creating and selling a number of cheats and derivative versions of Pokémon GO, giving its customers an unfair advantage. The settlement saw Global++ agree to no longer develop or sell cheats for any of Niantic's products and pay damages of $5 million.
Millions of Pokémon GO players have faced punishment for cheating over the last year. Niantic confirmed in a blog post that it has issued punishments to "more than 5 million cheaters across Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" and that "over 20% of those punishments were permanent bans." The company rarely speaks about its efforts to combat cheating but has provided this update to reassure fans that it is taking the problem seriously. According to Niantic, some 90% of those who received a warning instead of a ban stopped cheating. The developer also revealed that it is investing in "new and emerging technologies" to further combat cheating and will improve existing detection methods to find those trying to take advantage of exploits and hacks.
2021 has already been a big year for Pokémon GO, with Niantic seemingly trying to maintain the rise in popularity that 2020 brought to the augmented reality mobile game. The developer announced the upcoming Season 7 Battle League, detailing some of the new events and content that players can expect to see. This follows the Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto event that gave users a chance to catch a Shiny Mew.
Cheating is something that most gamers dislike, especially in online multiplayer titles that involve competing against other users. So it's certainly good to see that Niantic is taking the issue seriously and stepping up its efforts to prevent further cheating in the future. Hopefully, the large number of bans and warnings given out will make potential cheaters think twice.
Pokémon GO is available now on Android and iOS.
Source: Niantic
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