Pokemon Go players are reporting that a stealth update to the game has changed Pokemon spawning rates while moving above a certain speed. Simply put, traveling at above 50km/h prevents the player from seeing any Pokemon. This change was made in addition to the current warning pop up, which appears at about 30km/h.
The Pokemon community over at The Silph Road has been discussing the issue for several days; with some believing that it was a bug at first. Despite this, there are some players who are encouraging others to report the issues as it is a problem anyway.
This change appears to have come from the server side of things, as the Pokemon Go app hasn’t received an update itself. It looks like Niantic is attempting to push players away from playing the game while driving, although it has had a negative impact on those who are used to catching Pokemon while taking public transportation.
Interestingly, this is not Niantic’s first attempt at preventing people from playing Pokemon Go on the road. An earlier feature prevented people from catching Pokemon while moving too fast; although this was poorly communicated and people still tried to catch whatever they saw anyway.
Interestingly, this change may also get in the way of botters and Pokemon trackers. The bots used normally travel very fast to cover as much ground as possible; which is impossible with the new server rules.
