Niantic CEO John Hanke spoke at a keynote during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and among the things he talked about was the popular mobile game Pokémon Go.
In particular, Hanke mentioned three major updates were coming to Pokémon Go in 2017, with the Gen 2 update being an example of what a “major update” for Pokémon Go looks like.
With Pokémon Go having so many timed events like Santa Hat Pikachu and the most recent Valentine’s Day event, Hanke’s clarification of what a major update for the game looks like is great news for fans.
While nothing else was said during the keynote and Hanke didn’t clarify what is exactly coming to Pokémon Go this year, there are a lot of features that Hanke and Niantic have promised in the past that could finally be rolling out in 2017.
One feature Pokémon fans have hoped to see for a long time is trading, shown in the announcement trailer for Pokémon Go way back in 2015, which has yet to make its way to the mobile game and could be on the way.
Perhaps PVP battles are coming to Pokémon Go , so that trainers can scratch their Pokémon battle itch without having to go to a Gym. Niantic doesn’t even need to have real-time PVP, if every trainer in Pokémon Go can register a team of six Pokémon and face an AI, it could still work.
There’s also the possibility that Gen 3 could come to Pokémon Go by the end of the year. Considering we just got new Pokémon with the Gen 2 update, this seems less likely, but it’ll be fun to see what’s coming down the pipeline.
But we want to hear from you, what three changes to Pokémon Go do you expect in 2017? Sound off in the comments section below.