What you need to know
- Niantic has been making changes to Pokémon Go in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Select Research Tasks which cannot be completed from home are being removed from the game.
- Players who have already collected these tasks, can still complete them and collect the rewards.
Today, March 25, 2020, Niantic took to Twitter to announce changes to Pokémon Go Research Tasks. These changes are being made in direct response to the current global health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19. While Niantic did not provide a list of the specific Tasks being changed, it did say that select Research Tasks which can be difficult to complete without leaving your home are being removed for the foreseeable future. This is following the company's recent change to the Paid Special Research Event: A Drive to Investigate, in which the required Research Tasks were designed to be completed while still taking safe social distancing measures, as well as numerous gameplay changes made to support social distancing measures.
The current Research Tasks most likely to be affected by this decision involve going to Gyms or PokéStops. These include:
- Battle in a Gym
- Win a Gym Battle
- Battle in a Raid
- Defeat 3 Team Go Rocket Grunts
- Battle in a Gym 5 Times
- Win a Level 3 or higher Raid
- Win 5 Raids
- Use a Super Effective Charged Attack in 7 Gym Battles
- Win 3 Gym Battles
- Send 10 Gifts to Friends
It is also possible that the following Research Tasks, which still require leaving home, but can be done without going to PokéStops and Gyms, may also be affected by this decision:
- Hatch an Egg
- Hatch 3 Eggs
- Hatch 5 Eggs
Again, Niantic has not specified which tasks are being removed. Players who have already collected these tasks will still be able to complete them and collect the rewards, but they will no longer be dropping from PokéStops. For the time being, players who can safely access PokéStops should still be able to collect Research Tasks which can be completed from home, as well.
Are you still doing daily Research in Pokémon Go? If so, please play safe. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Complete Pokédex as well as our many Pokémon Go guides so you can be the very best like no one ever was!
