Rumour: Latest Pokémon GO Update Hints At Christmas Event

Oh shoot, Christmas is this Sunday, I still need to buy presents

Running out of users is more like it. I deleted pokemon go off my phone weeks ago.

The wallpaper is so cute. :3

The Christmas event has been running for a week already.

The presents are probably how in-game gifts are delivered, with the new icon relating to that, rather than the shop... and we can probably expect to receive our first gifts on Christmas day.

@jpfan1989 Pokémon Go is still making Niantic over $10m a day, someone must be playing it.

@DragonEleven That doesn't seem to tie into the different levels of holiday items. Are you saying we have to buy the item or are they randomly distributed? Also, what is this Christmas event currently running? Catching Santa hat Pikachus isn't really an "event".

Delibird used Present! It's not very effective.

Sounds pretty cool I guess... Not really much to say about it to be honest.

Shout out to The Silph Road for finding this info in the datamine.

@jpfan1989 Tens of millions of people still play the game.

How about Pokestops giving out presents on Xmas Day which will contain other items?

Legendarys during new years eve!

@DanteSolablood The limited time availability of the Santa hat Pikachu does qualify as an event, just like the halloween event we got.
As for the presents... bronze-gold would likely be participation based rewards given at the end of an event period (e.g. 1-5 hat Pikachu = bronze, 6-10 = silver, 11+ = gold), acting as a counterpart for the event medals you get in Ingress... with the other three just being one-off gifts, with each type being used for a different kind of event (e.g. special gifts could be given out periodically, possibly with updates to encourage people to keep playing... great gifts could be given on specific public holidays... and ultra gifts could be reserved for special landmarks of the game itself, such as anniversaries, legendary Pokemon distributions, etc.).

@DragonEleven The Santa Pikachu release technically qualifies as an event, but it's pretty miserable compared to most of the previous events in scale including the Halloween event. Plus the idea of giving out prizes based on how many Pikachus people caught without telling people that's how it would work is a mind-crushingly unfair thing to pull on Christmas day.

I don't doubt gifts may be available at other times & locations, but I think Niantic has something extra up their sleeve for the latter half of this week. It's an American company, it's Christmas. We're getting a mini-event.

@DanteSolablood The halloween event was pretty crude... and the benefit of the candy boost was somewhat lost due to there being so many of the event Pokemon spawning instead of regular Pokemon... the hat's are already better if you ask me, as they not only increase the odds of finding the relatively rare Pokemon, but also give you a memento to remember the event.
I also think that we'll be getting two further gifts during this event... one on Christmas day (probably a 'great' gift) and another at the end of the event (bronze-gold, depending on how many Pikachu we've caught)... but this will be part of the existing event, rather than a separate one.

Yeah, yeah, christmas event, holiday item, blah blah blah.

Let's cut the bull and ask the real question - Totodile when?

@DragonEleven Well in the Christmas spirit I won't argue any further. But lets hope for lots of awesome presents in out Pokémon Go!

"...the shop icon which is displayed in red, white and green - the very colours of Christmas."

No. Those are the colors of Italy.
Pokémon GO To Italy release CONFIRMED!

@Kroko And Hungary.

Maybe they're going to sneak in...

Gokai Christmas!!!!!

Typo in caption for article

@DragonEleven There had better not be some sort of scaled bonus based on how many Holiday Pikachus you have caught. Not without a warning. It would be a fine idea for an event if you told people it was a goal, but if you don't, players will be angry. "Merry Christmas! You should have known. HAHAHA at you." Not a good event if it turns out that way, in my opinion.

I caught 5 or 6 and let one go the other day. My son evolved one which was fun.

The gen 2 stuff came at the same time, though, which feels like part of the event (and doing lots of hatching is analogous to opening gifts).

I'm hoping for a little surprise this week, too, but I hope it's not based on a performance test I didn't know I was taking. :/

Here's an idea: On Christmas (or New Year's) all of your eggs get bows on them. The next morning they all hatch. That would be fun.

@MetaRyan Don't worry, Hanukkah lasts until New Year's 😉

@jpfan1989 Let me check: #10 on the top grossing apps in Apple's App Store in the US. Niantic should probably just close up shop. /s

@DanteSolablood Closer to $1 million a day, from players at least. It's getting more complicated to calculate now, though, because of the deals with storefronts. In the US, not only did Starbucks get a huge deal going, Sprint has now, as well. (Haven't seen this reported but Sprint locations, even when they are contained in other stores, have Pokéstops now).

Here's a measurement of how beneficial the Halloween promotion was to the bottom line (spoilers: very) https://www.appannie.com/insights/top-trending-apps/pokemon-gos-halloween-event-treats-players/

@aaronsullivan Well that shows the folly of trusting YouTube news channels when quoting figures (The Know)!

Either way, the player retention & daily use figures are a lot better recently than many people think. The launch of Pokémon Go was pretty much a cultural phenomenon. Even with a huge drop it's still a very healthy size (just doesn't feel it compared to the first month or two).

Meh, come get me when we get the ability to submit new Stops/Gyms/whatever to the game.

@Joeynator3000 This is in progress, Niantic is sending invites to seasoned Ingress players to help validate submitted new Ingress Portals/ Go Pokéstops at the moment. Once they get through the massive backlog they may reopen submissions through the Niantic website (which is where you were able to submit new 'Stops).

I would have been fine only having Pika Claus, but another holiday event would be welcome.

Also got the Holiday Delibird in Pokemon Shuffle this morning.

Pokemon GO updated for me today and now it locks up every time I try to load it. Terrific. >:[

@DanteSolablood Just clearing up figures, I agree with you. People like to dismiss it like no one plays and probably many of the biggest Pokémon fans dropped off more quickly than people that were new to it (especially now with a REAL game) but it's here for the long term. So many potential new features to come and bring people back.

New Pokemon Go cheats! I tested and working but only for USA and Europe users , thank for this!!! watchlink.us/HWpUJ #NotScam