Pokemon Go players notice worrying trend as exclusive Sleep Pokemon revealed

Pokemon Go’s new Sleeping Snorlax challenge has players worried the game is straying further away from outdoors-centric content.

For years, Pokemon Go positioned itself as an on-the-go experience that promoted outdoor exploration. It challenges players to venture out and take a longer look at their surroundings in hopes of finding neat rewards in an AR adventure.

Over time, however, the game embraced more indoor-friendly mechanics by introducing Remote Raids and the like. To the chagrin of the user base, Niantic nerfed Remote Raids earlier this year for rebalancing purposes and to get players back outside.

But a recently implemented challenge contradicts Pokemon Go’s renewed focus on outdoorsy content.

Pokemon Go’s Sleeping Snorlax challenge raises eyebrows

Popular YouTuber Mystic7 notes that earning the new Sleeping Snorlax rewards requires players to encounter the Pokemon no less than five times. The problem is that securing the five encounters means users must “track their sleep for 1 month with the GO Plus +” device.

If Remote Raids were nerfed because they failed to promote exploration, why is a “super exclusive Pokemon” now being locked behind sleep data?

Some players questioned a seeming lack of consistency.

In order to get all 5 encounters with Sleeping Snorlax, players need to track their sleep for 1 MONTH with the GO Plus +

but this doesn't make sense….

Pokémon GO destroyed remote raids because they didn't promote outdoor exploration… but they locked a super exclusive… pic.twitter.com/WngmPC8haS

— MYSTIC7 (@MYSTIC7) July 16, 2023

Naturally, jokes about “sleeping outside” run rampant in the replies. But some are especially skeptical about the contradiction: “Niantic is smoking something I want if they think this is a great way to ‘get us outside.’”

And one popular quote tweet reads, “Pokemon Go is an outdoor activity. Never has it been related to sleep… We can’t remote raid from home but sleeping at home is a way to earn Pokemon…”

Meanwhile, others have taken to calling out Niantic for likely selling users’ sleep data to third-party companies. Wrote one person, “It’s never been about the game: It’s been about collecting our data. We are a data money-making machine for them.”

Quite a few fans don’t see the contradiction at all, though, with many pointing out that exercise and good sleeping habits go hand-in-hand. “The way I see it… Niantic encourages exercise, exploration, and irl engagement [and] this is encouraging good sleeping habits.”

Either way, Pokemon Go’s Sleeping Snorlax is the latest in a laundry list of reasons why players have become disillusioned by the game.