Pokemon GO has been riding high on a wave of renewed popularity in recent weeks, thanks in no small part to a plethora of ongoing and upcoming events, but it seems the mobile title’s return to worldwide attention has become a double-edged sword of sorts.
Per ComicBook.com, several posts have begun cropping up over on Reddit, detailing an exploit that allows Trainers to essentially accrue an infinite number of coins (in-game currency) by manually tampering with the internal clock of their mobile devices.
As current players will know, placing one of your ‘Mons in a gym to defend it will award 50 coins per day (once its position has been usurped by another player) and no more until the next subsequent day begins. Rolling the clock forward before said defender has returned, however, will trick the game into thinking enough time has passed to award additional currency. This can then be repeated, ad nauseam, for the desired amount.
Not exactly an ideal situation for Niantic to be in, but this isn’t the first time the exploit has caused headaches for the developer. Shortly after Pokemon GO‘s launch last year, it was discovered that by turning back time, players were able to extend the duration of incenses and other limited-time items far beyond their usual limit.
Interestingly, shortly after the above became common knowledge, players started reporting a bug affecting the feature wherein coins are not being awarded upon a successful gym defense whatsoever. Niantic has acknowledged the issue on Twitter, though has yet to detail the cause.
Trainers, we’ve noticed a brief interruption in which Defender bonuses are not being awarded. Stay tuned for a fix shortly.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) July 17, 2017
It’s not a stretch to suggest the two are connected – Niantic won’t want millions of premium currency flooding the game, after all – but until they reveal more, we’ve no choice but to wait for an update on the developer’s end. Let’s just hope the problem is resolved before Pokemon GO Fest kicks off later this week in Chicago. The last thing Niantic wants is this hanging over its head during the celebrations.
