"Pokémon GO" developer Niantic Labs welcomed Pokémon fans with new update, tagged as "Buddy System," that will put the game into a new twist with brand new content that will totally revise the whole experience, especially a surprise for the typical solo adventure the game offers. With the issues of cheating affecting its reputation, its developer started to put effort on killing support for rooted or jailbroken devices, which might come as part of the update.
Come its introduction this July, Pokémon players found out alternative tracking apps that can help them find different Pokémon, which have made leveling up quickly against following the game's ordinary gameplay, Forbes has learned.
The move of Niantic towards reducing the cheating in "Pokémon GO" in Android and iOS mobiles is to gain the good image of the game that traces back from its console years. More so, the new update will put off players who are mostly dedicated to playing "Pokémon GO."
"We continue to focus on eliminating bots and scrapers from Pokemon GO," Niantic's official announcement stated about the new Buddy System.
"Rooted or jailbroken devices are not supported by Pokemon GO. Remember to download Pokemon GO from the official Google Play Store or iTunes App Store only," the official statement added.
This update is so highly anticipated because it features the new "buddy system," which gives trainers the ability to walk a Pokémon as a companion. Through this, players will unlock candy at certain kilometer intervals, similar to the way the game tracks distance for hatching eggs.
In order to keep the remaining players engaged as "Pokemon Go" struggle to maintain the augmented reality game's popularity as its active users have shrunk by more than 10 million, the studio is introducing new features like Buddy System.
As reported by Pokemongohub.net, Pokémon Buddy System is using the same server side distance calculation as the one used for Pokémon Eggs. By walking a Pokémon Buddy, trainers' will be awarded with candy. The amount of candy is yet to be determined.
Although players can walk the same Pokémon Buddy multiple times, there could likely be a daily limit for obtaining candy. Furthermore, there could only one Buddy Pokémon at a time, which could appear in the game in "medium size," "big size," "flying next to player," and "resting on player's shoulder."