Niantic is helping 1,000 small businesses by featuring them as PokeStops for free

As we move into the first week of October, almost half a year after the initial outbreak of COVID-19, it's reassuring to see that most of the world is gradually bouncing back from the pandemic. It's no secret that the coronavirus has hit everyone hard, especially businesses - many small, privately-owned firms and stores have had to shutter their doors and close for good due to a lack of customers over the past few months. 

Fortunately, some businesses that have managed to weather the storm this far will be getting a hand from Pokemon Go developer Niantic. When the game first released and people scurried around to catch 'em all, many of these small businesses and stores saw a sizable increase in their profits due to the increased traffic, and while most of them were paying Niantic a fee to maintain their PokeStop status, the circumstances now are very different.

Back in June, Niantic had thrown out a challenge to Pokemon Go players on Twitter, asking them to show some love for their local businesses and nominate those they felt were deserving of a PokeStop. The company received over 38,000 entries, and now, 1,000 of those nominees will be receiving free PokeStop status under the aptly-named Local Business Recovery initiative. These businesses, which are located in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan and several other countries were given an "onboarding" by Niantic in September, and will be featured as Pokemon Go Gyms or PokeStops for the next one year free of charge.

Granted, this initiative hasn't come to Singapore's shores yet, but we remain optimistic that Niantic might see fit to expand the coverage over time. There's a bigger plan in place, though - the studio has previously mentioned that in addition to being featured within Pokemon Go, they are also working on increasing the scope of collaborations with these businesses, allowing them to create their own in-game promo campaigns or even be part of events. Suffice to say that our local PokeStops might be much more than just PokeStops in future!

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