Niantic opens up on the challenge of adapting Pokemon GO play amidst a pandemic

Niantic had an extremely tough challenge ahead of them when working to adapt Pokemon GO for at-home play. Niantic's primary design goals with Pokemon GO are to encourage exploration, help players exercise, and drive social interaction. All of these were hindered massively by the pandemic, and still are today.

Over the last few months, Niantic has done an absolutely amazing job with adjusting how the game is played, accounting for those who are staying home to be safe. Pokemon GO product lead Matt Slemon and senior game designer Laura Warner talked all about what the team undertook to get the game where it is now, and you can see a recap of their GDC Summer 2020 presentation right here.