Pokemon GO speedcap

A recent update put a speed cap on Pokémon Go. Meaning? If you play while riding on the train or bus, you might want to find something else to do. 

The Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, reports that the update is global and that The Pokémon Company is not disclosing details about the speed cap. Moreover, it is not mentioned in the recent patch notes.

Prior to the update, it was easy to load up on items at PokéStops while taking public transportation. In Osaka, for example, if you rode on any of the above ground train lines, you’d pass a number of PokéStops and could spin out items. However, as of this morning, it’s no longer possible to do that while the train is moving, and players get a message instead telling them to wait momentarily.

[Images: Kotaku]

Here are photos taken earlier today in Osaka with said message.

Obviously, this kind of ruins things if you live in Tokyo or Osaka or, you know, any place with lots of public transportation. Ditto if you are in a bus or a passenger in a car.

Players, obviously, are not happy as evident by Reddit threads the change has spawned (here and here, for example). Likewise, Facebook users on the game’s official page aren’t thrilled, either.

To make it up to players, it seems, another new update gives out more items at PokéStops—at least, temporarily.

This comes as Pokémon Go players have not only crashed into schools but have even killed people. A recent study showed playing Pokémon Go while driving is more prevalent than you’d hope. No doubt the speed cap aims to prevent those tragedies. That, and it was always meant to be a game played while walking...