Pokémon Go’s recent overhaul to player avatars has the community divided on the new look and customization options. The state of the update surprised game testers too, with one revealing that these changes were likely pushed out before they were done and won’t get major updates. 

In an April 19 anonymous interview with Pokémon Go journalist JRESeawolf, one player who volunteers their time to review, discuss, and occasionally test beta features for Niantic provided a look behind the scenes at how the company has handled the avatar changes from their perspective. This includes a timeline that worryingly puts only a few months of actual testing behind the update many players are calling “visual doomsday” for Pokémon Go and a distinct lack of internal communication about future plans around it.