An executive atPokemon GOdeveloper Niantic teases a ‘legendary’ summer for the game. Could legendary Pokemon finally be about to be added to the massively popular mobile game after months of teasing and datamined hints?
Accepting the Webby Award for Best Mobile Game of 2017 this weekend, Niantic’s global marketing lead Archit Bhargava said that “this summer will be legendary” forPokemon GO. Unfortunately, the Niantic executive was unable to elaborate further, as Webby Award winners were restricted to acceptance speeches of no longer than five words. But fans are still ecstatic with the incredibly brief sentence, which suggests one of the most asked for features may finally be on the way.
Fans are so desperate for legendary Pokemon to be added to the hit mobile game that somePokemon GOplayers have added the much-sought characters to the game themselves. Although their attempts to bring legendaries to the world were swiftly met withpunishments from Niantic, it showed clearly the lengths that some people would go to just to catch an Articuno.
Niantic, for its part, has previously addressed the demands for legendaries. Less than a month ago, Niantic CEO John Hanke teased that aPokemon GOlegendary event would be coming soonand promised concerned fans that the developer wouldn’t do this with half-measures. Instead, Niantic would treat the introduction of legendary Pokemon with ‘care’ and it is even considering how legendaries could be used for gyms and (presumably) how it would ensure that players won’t abuse that.
As for exactly whenPokemon GOplayers can expect all of this, Summer in the Northern Hemisphere officially begins on June 21 and so fans can likely expect the update any time after that date. Recent rumors suggests that thenext major Pokemon GO update will focus on gymsso the wait for legendaries may not be too excruciating.
Niantic also hasn’t stated which legendaries will be introduced but with Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos featuring on the game’s team logos and being the most well known Pokemon with legendary status, it stands to reason that these will be the first ones in the game.
Pokemon GOis available for iOS and Android.
