Niantic has teased the introduction of the Master Ball on Twitter! Or at least we think they did, given the recent leaked text, images, and animations. These leaks were obtained via data mining performed by PokéMiners, as usual.
As you probably already know, the Master Ball is a special item in the Pokémon series, known for its ability to capture any Pokémon without fail. Niantic has hidden away the Master Ball icon in the game files since forever, as earliest traces of it date back to the game’s launch in 2016.
Today, we think Niantic published a tweet that started the hype wave once again. Here is the tweet that started it all (be aware that this is an official Niantic tweet, so it is guaranteed there is a new ball type coming):
In development…
#RisingHeroes pic.twitter.com/lYMqiP1hhr
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) May 15, 2023
Although this tweet could be taken a number of different ways, we are fairly confident that this it is Master Ball related.
We were recently informed that the 0.269.0 update contained new Master Ball assets, including the 3D model of a container, an animated cutscene, and a bunch of textures to go along with it. So yeah, we think this is very much Master Ball related, and we thank the good people at PokéMiners for the following image:
The news was met with a mix of excitement, skepticism, and criticism from the general community, as one would expect.
Some Trainers expressed hope that the Master Ball could improve their chances of capturing rare Pokémon, such as Galarian birds, which would be great, but a lot of players were quite sceptical.
A significant number of Trainers raised concerns about potential implementation issues, reflecting a broader lack of confidence in Niantic’s recent handling of game updates.
We think both viewpoints are valid, who wouldn’t want an easier way to get the Galarian Birds, but we see how having a Master Ball could go a bit off the rails.
Where would it work? Does it work in Raids? How many will we get? Do we have only 1? Is it paywalled? There are so many questions right now!
In any case, what do you think? Are we getting Master Ball or is this something else all together? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
P.S. Article image is simulated and not real visual asset shared by Niantic. We added the Master Ball icon there.
