We’re coming up to the one year anniversary of Pokémon GO, which has hit 750 million global downloads. Niantic will be celebrating with two events – one in-game and one in the real world.
The Solstice Event starts June 13. The in-game event will feature more Fire and Ice-type Pokémon as well as bigger XP bonuses for accurately thrown Poké Balls. The XP boosting Lucky Eggs will also be discounted in the in-game shop.
In preparation for an upcoming update that includes “collaborative group gameplay features,” Gyms will be temporarily disabled for a short period of time.
The real-world event is the Pokémon GO Fest, which will take place in Chicago, Illinois on July 22. Tickets will go on sale on June 19 at 10:00 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern. Actual details of the event should be announced before that time as well.
Japan is getting a “Pikachu Outbreak” event in August. European trainers are getting a Pokémon GO Event across the continent from June to September in partnership with a shopping center. Details and schedules for these events are still forthcoming.
Pokémon GO initially launched on July 6, 2016. It had a rocky launch full of server issues and bugs. Despite its near constant problems, Pokémon GO enjoyed a level of widespread mainstream success far beyond most video games. The combination of capturing Pokémon and an AR camera resonated with millions of people around the world.
In the year since Pokémon GO has provided updates and seasonal events. Earlier this year it finally added Gen 2 Pokémon. Some core features, such as trading, still aren’t available, however.
