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Where It All Began: 2016 Timeline

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Where It All Began: 2016 Timeline

What’s this? Another timeline that no one asked for? Well some of you asked after our Pokemon GO 2018 timeline… Well anywho, once again with help from the crazy talented OrangeHeart, we bring to you this amazing graphic of Pokemon GO in 2016!

The year started off rough with many server issues causing BIG downtimes and leaving people sad knowing they couldn’t indulge in the game, but slowly Niantic fixed as many server issues as they could at any given time.

Splash screen identifying server issues
Splash screen identifying server issues

But with further ado, all of us at Pokemon GO Hub bring to you this amazing 2016 timeline for your viewing pleasure!

Pokemon GO in 2016

September 2015

March

  • March 21: Field test for Pokemon GO goes live in Japan

April

  • April 7: Field test goes live in New Zealand and Australia

May

  • May 16: Field test signups begin in the United States, going live later that month

June

  • June 30: Field testing ends globally, leaving the world to anticipate it’s release

July

  • July 6: Pokemon GO officially releases in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan
  • July 13: Pokemon GO releases in Germany
  • July 14: Pokemon GO releases in the United Kingdom
  • July 15: Pokemon GO releases in Italy, Spain, and Portugal
  • July 16: Pokemon GO releases in 26 new countries across Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland)
  • July 17: Pokemon GO releases in Canada
  • July 24: Pokemon GO releases in Hong Kong

August

  • August 3: Pokemon GO releases across Latin America (Central and South America)
  • August 5: Pokemon GO releases across Asia and Oceania (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau)
  • August 22: The Appraisal System goes live in Pokemon GO, finally allowing players to determine the IV’s of their Pokemon

September

  • September 10: Buddy system goes live, allowing players to start walking a Pokemon of their choice and earn candy for them for powering up or evolving
  • September 16: The Pokemon GO Plus releases across the globe in limited quantities, and they sell out fairly quickly
  • September 29: Pokemon GO releases in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macau, Macedonia, and Serbia
  • September 30: Pokemon GO releases in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia

October

  • October 4: Pokemon GO releases in 31 new countries, mostly across Africa (Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Chad, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Egypt, Morocco, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo)
  • October 10: Niantic adds type badges, giving players catch bonuses for catching many Pokemon of specific types
  • October 23: 2km, 5km, and 10km eggs finally get different colors and become distinguishable
  • October 26: The first Halloween event begins featuring double candy for transferring, catches, and buddy candy!

November

  • November 6: Niantic introduces 7-Day catch and spin streaks, granting rewards for continued play, enticing players to play every day.
  • November 17: Pokemon GO releases across the Middle East (Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates)
  • November 22: Footprint tracker system is thrown out and replaced with the sightings tracker system that we have today
  • November 23: The second event ever in Pokemon GO begins, thanking players for millions of downloads. The Thank You event, featuring double XP and stardust for the first time ever! Ditto also made it’s first appearance in the wild, disguising itself as a handful of Pokemon

December

  • December 7: Niantic announces it’s partnership with Sprint, creating Pokestops and Gyms at many Sprint locations
  • December 8: Starbucks also gets announced as a partner of Niantic, granting many Starbucks locations the glory of being a Pokestop or Gym
  • December 12: Holiday event 2016 begins, introducing a Pikachu sporting a Santa Claus hat. Gen 2 babies get introduced into the game, giving players a first taste of generation 2 Pokemon, but they had to hatch them
  • December 13: Pokemon GO releases in India and other South Asian countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
  • December 22: Just in time for Christmas, the game becomes available on the Apple Watch
  • December 30: The Starter event begins, increasing spawns for Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Pikachu, and Raichu

Were there any special moments that happened to you playing Pokemon GO in 2016? Let us know in the comments below!