‘Pokémon Go’ Erroneously Banned Players

Over the last few weeks, Pokémon Go players have gathered on the game’s unofficial subreddit r/TheSilphRoad, filing complaints about their undeserved strikes and bans.

According to Eurogamer, there are three punishments variably enforced based on the cheating measures. The mildest ban prevents you from enjoying the game for seven days, followed by a more serious 30-day account freeze. And if the anti-cheat system still detects your cunning moves, a permanent ban will force you to say goodbye to your lovely account.

But despite the amount of trust Pokémon Go has given to the system, we all know that technology sometimes fails in an unexpected way. Many Pokémon Go players reported unreasonable bans and strikes recently. Daniel “Spieletrend” Schilling, a German YouTuber who has collaborated with Niantic at Pokémon Go events before, also received a ban from the service.

Having acknowledged the glitch, Niantic Support tweeted the following:

“We’re working on reverting strikes for some Trainers who incorrectly received punishments on their accounts,” the tweet reads. “This will be done for Trainers automatically, whether or not they have contacted us. We apologize for the error.”

Although Niantic Support doesn’t disclose what triggered the error, one Reddit thread suggested that it might be the new version of the iOS system disrupting the anti-cheating system. u/GloomySelf reported that he got a 30-day suspension just when he switched to iOS 12. And when he waited until the suspension expired, he updated the software to iOS 14, which got him banned again.

From the game’s first release in 2016, Niantic has been conscious of combatting third-party applications. Specifically, the company has been attempting to tear down “spoofers,” an external software that allows players to show up on locations lightyears away from their homes.

In February, Niantic even announced that it had banned over one million Pokémon Go cheaters in 2020. This annihilation seems extremely effective, causing “more than 90 percent of users” to delete their cheating systems.