‘Pokemon GO’ Tracker: PokeWhere Goes Back Online As FastPokeMap Struggles To Stay Afloat

Niantic’s long-standing battle against third-party Pokemon GO trackers has reached yet another level, with a previous fan favorite, PokeWhere, coming back online. The return of PokeWhere comes at a perfect time, as the most resilient third-party tracker to date, FastPokeMap, has been hit by Niantic’s ban hammer repeatedly over the past few days.

Pokemon GO trackers are a very sensitive subject in the highly popular augmented reality game. The mobile title’s developer, Niantic, has taken a very firm stance against the use of third-party Pokemon-tracking applications, even going so far as banning players who utilize them from the game. However, there is one slight problem: Niantic does not offer an official tracker in the game, and in a game that requires players to physically travel from one place to another in order to catch Pokemon, a tracker is something that is very pertinent.

Thus, while Niantic maintains that the use of third-party trackers is tantamount to cheating, the absence of an official alternative has incited the disappointment of numerous players. Over the last few months, Niantic’s banning initiatives and its consistent battle against third-party applications have encouraged numerous players to leave the game. This could be seen from the mobile title’s user base, which continues to decline.

Nevertheless, it is hard not to be impressed by the sheer resilience of the developers behind popular third-party Pokemon GO trackers. Despite Niantic’s continued efforts to remove their applications, the men and women behind these third-party trackers have remained steadfast, bringing their applications back online as soon as they are able.

The most prominent example of this is PokeWhere, one of the third-party Pokemon-tracking applications that were hit hard by Niantic’s ban hammer during the last few months. Despite the intense pressure from the developer, however, the creators of PokeWhere have managed to bring the application back online.

iOS is back up! Make sure to be on v121+. Android will be back later today too. Thanks for the wait, we needed the sleep ? ? pic.twitter.com/OnqicQRYf2

— PokeWhere (@PokewhereGO) October 28, 2016

While numerous Pokemon GO players have complained that the current iteration of PokeWhere is nowhere near as stable as its original version, the developers have urged users of the tracker to simply be patient. After all, each update rolled out by Niantic usually means that the developer is also initiating more preventive measures against third-party trackers.

As PokeWhere continues to regain its foothold among Pokemon GO players, the developer behind FastPokeMap is beginning to feel the pressure. FastPokeMap emerged as the tracker of choice for millions of Pokemon GO players after Niantic brought down the ban hammer on the game’s most popular and most stable third-party tracker, PokeVision.

However, FastPokeMap has also struggled against Niantic’s sanctions significant over the last few weeks, ultimately causing the popular tracking service to shut down. Eventually, FastPokeMap went back online, but recent reports have emerged from the Pokemon GO community that the popular tracker is offline once more.

The developer of FastPokeMap is indeed feeling the pressure, and in a tweet to the tracker’s followers, the developer expressed his frustration at the situation. After all, while Niantic is putting so much effort into removing third-party trackers, the developer does not seem to be that concerned at all about the development of its own Pokemon finder.

The issue is, I feel like FPM is "too much". And the game is "nothing". The real game needs an improvement but FPM is too much.

— Ex-FastPokeMap | Shadow | My Sanity Wasted (@MySanityWasted) October 25, 2016

Pokemon GO is still undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest mobile title in the world today. Millions still access the game every day, but slowly and steadily, its user base is beginning to significantly decline. This is primarily due to Niantic’s tendency to not listen to its players, implementing updates and developments on the game that ultimately prove unpopular among Pokemon GO players instead.

Considering that Pokemon GO is a mobile title, it would be best for Niantic to learn from the strategies being employed by Supercell, the creators of mobile favorites Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. Both games recently experienced a renaissance of interest among its players, after the developers rolled out updates that were almost tailor-fit to fans’ requests. It was during this time that Pokemon GO lost its place as the most lucrative mobile game in the world after Clash Royale overtook it.

Niantic is sitting on a nest of golden eggs with Pokemon GO. The hundreds of millions of players that downloaded the game immediately after it was launched in just a handful of territories is proof that there is interest in the game. However, until such time that Niantic itself listens to its fans and rolls out an official Pokemon GO tracker, the game’s players would most likely continue to decline.

[Featured Image by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]