It’s official, Niantic Labs is now throwing out permanent bans to Pokemon Go accounts that are very clearly cheating.
The news came via a blogpost from Niantic very recently; stating that after reviewing the many reports of in-game cheating, they are now taking action against the players who are clearly abusing the game.
This followed reports from developers of Pokemon Go bots saying that received cease-and-desist letters from Niantic, one of which pre-emptively shut down their software.
Pokemon Go bots essentially allows players to spoof their location; and simulate walking around by sending fake GPS coordinates to the main servers. This in turn allows players to catch and power-level without even setting foot outside; to the point it almost ruined the game for legitimate players:
“Our main priority with Pokémon Go is to provide a fair, fun, and legitimate game experience for all players,” said Niantic. “If our system has determined that you cheated, then you will receive an email stating that your account has been terminated.”
Niantic has also been issuing “soft bans” where players can get into the game but cannot actually play; but began banning cheaters sometime last week. Anything that violates the game’s TOS can result in a termination but those who feel that they have been wrongly terminated can at least do a ban appeal.
