Pokémon GO - Timeline
Friday10th Jul 2020
News You Can Now Battle Team Rocket's Jessie And James In Pokémon GO
Find 'em while you can!
Jessie and James, the most iconic members of the dastardly Team Rocket, have made their way into Pokémon GO. For a limited time, you can take them on in battle and pick up some sweet goodies. This week, Team Rocket hot air balloons have been doing the rounds in Pokémon GO as a way for players to battle the pesky bad guys...
Tuesday7th Jul 2020
Random Niantic Got Rian Johnson To Direct A Pokémon GO Commercial
"It was a real pleasure"
Niantic's augmented reality mobile game Pokémon GO has just turned four years old. To celebrate in style, it's teamed up with the Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out director, Rian Johnson, to produce a special commercial for Pokémon GO Fest 2020 (taking place on 25th - 26th July). Johnson describes himself as a...
Friday26th Jun 2020
Random Pokémon GO Grandpa's Amazing Phone Rig Has Gigantamaxed
What a sight to behold
Back in 2018, the then 70-year-old Chen San Yuan rose to fame among the Pokémon GO community after he was spotted with a seriously impressive bike rig which allowed him to use 11 phones at once, helping him to catch and evolve rare Pokémon. Two years later, it would appear that it's not just his Pokémon that are evolving,...
Thursday18th Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO To Add Mega Evolution, Sword And Shield-Inspired Avatar Items Revealed
And Galarian Farfetch'd arrives
A new and potentially game-changing feature is set to burst onto the Pokémon GO scene, with Mega Evolution planned to appear later this year. The news was revealed during the Pokémon Presents livestream, where The Pokémon Company gave us our first tease of the upcoming feature with a short trailer. "Fans can look...
News Pokémon GO Is Ending Support For Older Android Devices
Update: Niantic has now postponed this
Update (Thu 18th Jun, 2020 01:30 BST): It looks like Niantic has had second thoughts about dropping support for older Android devices in its next update. This will now be postponed until it's collected more data. Here's the important post it made on its support page: Important update (June 15, 2020): To...
Monday15th Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO Appears To Be Incorrectly Banning iPhone Users
Ouch
A large number of Pokémon GO players have been reporting serious issues with their in-game accounts, noting that they've received bans for cheating despite being completely innocent. Eurogamer says that it has received "more than 100 messages" from concerned players in the last couple of days, noting that fans believe the total number of...
Thursday4th Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO Update Is Live, Along With Cool New "Reality Blending" Feature
Limited to Android phones for now
Pokémon GO has been updated to Ver. 0.177.0 (Android) and Ver. 1.143.0 (iOS), and you can download it now. The latest update for Niantic's augmented reality game comes with a range of tweaks, changes and improvements, including: Addition of a visual indicator (white rings around the Charge Moves) allowing...
Wednesday3rd Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO Players Can Now Catch Their First Sword And Shield Pokémon
The first Generation 8 Pokémon arrive
Pokémon GO players can get their first taste of Generation 8 action today, as Pokémon from the main series' latest entries, Sword and Shield, arrive in the app for the first time. Usually, new generations are introduced on a yearly basis, with new 'mon starting to appear as summer comes to an end. This time,...
Tuesday2nd Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO Player Spending Hit $23 Million In A Single Week During Coronavirus Lockdown
A near 70% jump
Pokémon GO continues to be a monstrous success for both developer Niantic and The Pokémon Company, with huge profits still being recorded during the coronavirus outbreak. According to data gathered by GoldenCasinoNews, weekly player spending in Pokémon GO jumped by "almost 70%" between 9th and 16th March, a week in which a large...
Monday1st Jun 2020
News Pokémon GO Downtime Scheduled For 1st June - Here's When And Why Pokémon GO Is Down
Pokémon GO not working? Don't worry
On Monday 1st June, Pokémon GO will experience downtime for a number of hours. If you're concerned about your app not working as it should or any issues with your account, don't worry - everything will be up and running again soon. The game is planned to be down globally for seven hours, meaning you'll be...
Tuesday19th May 2020
News Niantic Talks About Playing And Developing Pokémon GO From Home
"It's been challenging"
It's been a difficult period for every video game company in recent months to get teams up and running from home. For Niantic, though, it's been even more of a challenge. Not only has it had to make a transition to working from home, but it's also had to rework and update its insanely popular mobile game Pokémon GO so its...
Friday17th Apr 2020
Random Neighbour Sends Apology Pokémon Cake After Calling Police On Pokémon GO Players
"Sorry we called the cops on you"
A Minnesota resident called Amy Kellems has hit the news this week after receiving an apology Pokémon cake from one of her neighbours. As reported by Fox35Orlando, Kellems decided to make full use of her neighbourhood's current quietness by taking her daughter outside to play Pokémon GO, driving around in a car...
Wednesday15th Apr 2020
News Pokémon GO Stay-At-Home Changes Detailed, Remote Raid Pass, Field Research And More
Take part in Raids from home
As promised at the end of last month, Pokémon GO developer Niantic has detailed a number of changes coming to the game to keep players involved while stuck at home. While Pokémon GO usually rewards you for getting out and about, these new tweaks will allow you to take part in Raid Battles and train up your favourite...
Tuesday31st Mar 2020
News Pokémon GO To Throw Out The Rule Book By Offering Stay-At-Home Raid Battles
Pokémon GO Fest to be re-imagined
The latest in a string of new updates for Pokémon GO will see a hugely significant change to the game's signature Raid Battles, as developer Niantic does its bit to help players stay safe at home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In a
Thursday26th Mar 2020
News Pokémon GO Player Spending Soars As More Trainers Bunker Down
Gotta stay inside
Niantic's outdoor mobile game Pokémon GO is reportedly making even more money than it previously was now that people around the globe are locked down indoors. According to Sensor Tower data (via VentureBeat), global player spending in the game reached $23 million last week on 16th March, which was an increase of 66.7% from the...
Tuesday24th Mar 2020
News Pokémon GO Receives More Updates To Help Players In Isolation, Some Events Cancelled
Including a new one-PokéCoin bundle
As we all adjust our lifestyles to help prevent further spread of the new coronavirus, Pokémon GO developer Niantic has issued another set of new updates to help players stay at home. Perhaps most notably, the bundle of 30 Incense that has been available to purchase for just one PokéCoin has been joined by a...
Friday20th Mar 2020
And it didn't go unpunished
Pokémon GO can be a wonderful way to pass the time, but there's definitely a time and a place. Italy is currently in lockdown following a large number of coronavirus cases being reported in the country, and has been since 9th March. At present, people have been told to stay in their homes unless they're running...
Friday13th Mar 2020
News Niantic Updates Pokémon GO To Protect Players From The Coronavirus
Will continue until "further notice"
The COVID-19 pandemic – commonly known as the coronavirus outbreak – has already had a huge impact on the games industry. Certain games have been delayed, Switch stock is in short supply in some locations around the world, and most recently it's resulted in the
Thursday5th Mar 2020
News Niantic Brings Paid Special Research Story To March's Pokémon GO Community Day
Niantic used Pay Day!
To say Pokémon GO has been a financial success for all parties involved would be something of an understatement. Since launching back in 2016 it's done pretty well for itself, with 2019 being the game's most successful year yet. In-game player spending pulled in nearly $900 million for makers Niantic last year, stimulated...
News Pokémon GO’s Competitive GO Battle League Kicks Off 13th March, Details Revealed
Updates and improvements promised
Pokémon GO developer Niantic and The Pokémon Company have today revealed that the first season of the game's upcoming competitive mode, GO Battle League, will be launching on 13th March. The GO Battle League is set to allow players to compete in Trainer Battles against other players around the world, rising up...
Wednesday4th Mar 2020
News Pokémon GO's Nickname Entry Is Censoring Real Pokémon Names
Ho-Oh's a big no-no
When you head out into the real world to play Pokémon GO, catching new monsters who are happily chilling outside your local post office, you're given the option to choose a nickname for your new virtual pet - just like the main series games. As you'd expect, developer Niantic has some restrictions on what you can call your...
Monday2nd Mar 2020
Random Croatia's Second-Biggest City Misses Pokémon GO Raid Day Due To Incorrect Map Data
"Apparently Niantic thinks that Split belongs to Italy like it did during WW2"
Residents of the Croatian city of Split have missed out on Pokémon GO raid day because Niantic was relying on incorrect map data. The hiccup was spotted by Reddit user jaleCro (thanks, VG247): Apparently Niantic thinks that Split belongs to
Wednesday26th Feb 2020
News Etika's Mural Becomes A PokéStop In Pokémon GO
"JoyconBoyz forever"
Not long after the video game YouTuber Desmond "Etika" Amofah was found deceased last year, his fans banded together and painted a large mural of him in Brooklyn. Now, to add to this, the same location has been transformed into a PokéStop within Niantic's augmented reality mobile-hit, Pokémon GO. This is all thanks to the...
News Pokémon GO Celebrates Pokémon Day With The Return Of Armored Mewtwo
Party hat Pokémon are also up for grabs
The Pokémon Company and Niantic have already started this year's Pokémon Day celebrations in Pokémon GO with a limited-time event featuring Armored Mewtwo, Clone Pokémon in Raid Battles and special party-hat Pokémon. This all ties in with the Netflix debut of Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution on...
Saturday15th Feb 2020
News Pokémon GO Players Contact Advertising Standards Over Hidden Safari Zone Ticket Costs
Update: Niantic responds
Update (Sat 15th Feb, 2020 12:30 GMT): In response to Pokémon GO players being left frustrated at misleading ticket prices (original story below), Niantic has shared an official statement. Ticket pricing has been adjusted to reflect the hidden costs, although no apology for or explanation behind the initial pricing has been...
Sunday9th Feb 2020
February 2020 Pokémon GO events bring a plethora of pink Pokémon
February 2020 is shaping up to be one of Pokémon GO's busiest months ever with developer Niantic announcing a whole bunch of events across the month. Below we've rounded them all up in roughly chronological order (there's a lot of overlap!) so you don't miss out on catching 'em all...
Tuesday28th Jan 2020
News Pokémon GO's Long-Awaited PvP Mode Launches This Week, And Pikachu Libre Is Up For Grabs
Preseason trial will help optimise the experience
Ever since Pokémon GO launched, players have been asking when the opportunity to face-off against other human opponents would arrive. Now, years after its release, we're finally getting PvP functions in the game via a preseason trial of the GO Battle League, which kicks off this week. Niantic is...
Wednesday22nd Jan 2020
News Pokémon GO 2020 Global Events Revealed, Safari Zones To Be Held In US And UK
Here are the dates and locations you need
Pokémon GO developer Niantic has announced a handful of large-scale community events set to take place throughout the first half of the year. Four events have been detailed so far, all taking place between February and May of 2020. The majority of these are Pokémon GO Safari Zone events, which have...
Wednesday15th Jan 2020
News Pokémon GO Player Shares Life-Changing Weight Loss Story
10 stone lost, lifelong friends gained
Pokémon GO developer Niantic has released a new video which tells the story of Tommy, a fan of the game who has enjoyed dramatic health improvements as a result of playing regularly. A student at the University of Greenwich in the UK, Tommy recalls how he felt "isolated" as a child, not having many friends...
Friday10th Jan 2020
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Pokémon GO
Ryan's personal pick for GOTD
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Ryan looks back at how a smartphone title took the world by storm and proved him completely wrong - in a good way... Hold it, let me...
