Pokemon Go developer offers reasonable explanation why third-party tracking apps were shutdown

Pokemon Go developer Niantic outlines, once again, reasons for its recent controversial decisions. This time in more detail.

The most recent update to Pokemon Go has turned many players against the company, despite having very few changes to the actual gameplay.

A big reason why people were up in arms has to do with Niantic's decision to track down and close third-party tracker apps, which many relied to on to locate Pokemon near them. The studio's first attempt to explain the decision was lacklustre at best, leading only to increased outrage.

Now, in a new blog post, Niantic went into a bit more detail exactly why third-party trackers had to go. The main reason being that these apps strained the game's already fickle servers well beyond what the actual game does.

This also had the side effect of delaying the game's launch in many territories, seeing as how server resources were eaten up by third-party apps. In the chart below, you can see the drastic drop in server usage Niantic reported, following these apps shutdown.

"It’s worth noting that some of the tools used to access servers to scrape data have also served as platforms for bots and cheating which negatively impact all Trainers," the developer said, noting that not all of these apps hid a sinister motive, as some are just born out of fan enthusiasm.

Spending time dealing with problems caused by third-party apps means less time spent on developing game features, Niantic added, and said it will continue to take steps to "maintain the stability and integrity of the game."

"We look forward to getting the game on stable footing so we can begin to work on new features," the developer said in closing.