Pokemon Go developer Niantic is still working hard to keep player numbers up and the dedicated community engaged.
It’s doing that through a number of interesting promotions in the US via Sprint and Starbucks, but it could be the introduction of new Pokemon in early 2017 that could send the masses rushing back to the mobile game juggernaut.
The Pokémon Company has confirmed that on December 12 (US time), it will reveal details about new Pokemon coming to Pokemon Go.
That’s unsurprising, as some leaked Starbucks employee documents revealed more Pokemon were incoming, suggesting that those cafe locations could be spawning hotspots. A Pokemon Go-inspired Frappuccino is also said to be going on sale. Sorry in advance to the guy working on his laptop drinking a pumpkin spiced latte.
With all non-legendary generation 1 Pokemon having already been released — the last in Ditto being added last month — the rumours are firmly focused on Gen 2 Pokemon being part of the next big update.
However, there’s also room for the final Gen 1 Pokemon to be added, made up of the remaining Legendary Pokemon, including Mewtwo. Also part of that Legendary crew are Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mew.
The addition of Legendary Pokemon seems unlikely, however, as the large promotions at Sprint at Starbucks suggests much more on the horizon than a few Legendary Pokemon.
There are rumours swirling that a big Christmas event is being planned, which of course would tie into the forthcoming announcement on December 12. It’s expected that the Christmas event will increase the spawn rate of ice type Pokemon, and will run over Christmas from December 20 until December 27.
Then there’s the case of Mewtwo, which, if the rumours are true, will be unleashed on the Pokemon Go masses on New Year’s Ever in New York City’s Time Square.
Interestingly, the original launch trailer for Pokemon Go showed Mewtwo on a big screen in the tourism hot spot.
That of course disregards the promotions available at stores, although perhaps a Gen 2 release is planned for January, alongside the release of additional Gen 1 Legendary Pokemon.
It all seems a little too wild, however, even for Pokemon Go. Niantic could just go crazy and unleash Gen 1 Legendary Pokemon as well as Gen 2, dividing them up between large events and locations like New Year’s Eve.
However, I wonder how that will actually work to keep people engaged for long periods, especially if Mewtwo is only available in New York City.
Whatever path Niantic does go down, expect some big new changes and additions to Pokemon Go in the coming days and weeks.
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