I am also a pokemon go player, and was super saddened by Niantic giving in. It was a tourist destination. 9 stops down to 3. I met tourists who had come to Toronto/ Canada just to catch pokemon there.
I am not sure what area needed recovering? If you mean the grass? I would say that a dry summer had just as much, and probably more of a negative impact on the poor grass growth than people having picnics and playing pokemon. It is a park, and a tourist destination. It should have been allowed to remain as so. Instead local residents felt threatened by the park finally being full of people for once.