Niantic Labs released a Pokémon Go update on Wednesday that claimed to make trainers look “even more” like the players themselves — and players are now starting to see that comment as a roast. That’s because a loud group of players on social media thinks the update made trainers “ugly.” And, uh, yeah… there’s something off about the new trainer avatars.
The update was intended to give Pokémon Go a fresh coat of paint — “in-game map, encounter screens, battle screens, and more,” according to Niantic. The avatars got a makeover, too, with the game giving players new options for body types, hairstyles, and skin tones. It’s a great thing to give players more options, like using fat bodies, but the implementation went wrong somewhere. Proportions are off across the board, and faces now look lifeless. Arms are too long, hands are too big, and the skin tones just don’t look quite right.
Players are reporting broken or missing cosmetic options and emotes, too — some of which people paid real money for. That’s a problem in and of itself, but the fervor around the update goes beyond financial investment. Digital avatars are personal, intimate; people across games spend a lot of time nailing the details to present themselves just right. The new update was supposed to give a wider range of people the delight of perfecting their Pokémon Go trainers, but has instead upset what feels like the entire playerbase.
The problem for Pokémon Go players isn’t that there are expanded options, but that they aren’t implemented correctly. Players are campaigning for Niantic to revert the update until the issues can be fixed — similar in nature to the backlash to Sonic the Hedgehog’s movie redesign. Niantic hasn’t responded publicly, nor to Polygon’s request for comment. We’ll update this story when they do.
