Brand new features are coming soon to Pokémon GO. These changes are intended to introduce and encourage new players to join the Pokémon GO community.
Not only will these improvements help new Trainers adapt to the game, but current players can also look forward to quality of life improvements which will have a positive impact on the overall gameplay experience.
Niantic intends to work on improving the gameplay experience for everyone with each new update. These specific changes mentioned in this announcement may be minor but will aid in the bigger picture of making Pokémon GO bigger and better.
From the Official Announcement
Trainers, In the coming months, we’ll be testing minor gameplay adjustments in certain parts of the world.
We continually strive to improve the Pokémon GO experience. As such, we want to ensure the changes we make are beneficial to—and make a strong, positive impact on—the greater community, as well as each individual Trainer’s experience, before we launch them globally. We appreciate the community’s support, particularly within these regions, as we test variations of these features to understand what works best!
New Gameplay Features
These are the new features that will be rolled out throughout the next few months:
- Nickname suggestions for new Trainers.
Nickname suggestions will help new Trainers which may be struggling to pick the perfect name on their Pokémon GO journey.
- An expanded set of Trainer Tips.
We have seen an early glimpse of these Trainer Tips in the loading screen which is a subtle but nice update that may help newer players to gain extra knowledge they may not have known before about the game.
- New PokéStop functionalities.
Niantic mentions new PokéStop functionalities. As of now, we don’t have much information about this specific change, but we can assume that there are good things to come soon.
- Egg hatch updates, including the option to skip the hatch animation.
The Egg hatch update is something that many Trainers will appreciate. Having the option to skip the hatch animation will greatly improve gameplay experiences and also save a lot of time.
I’m sure we all have been in the situation of jumping into a raid at the last minute but then having every single egg known to man hatching in your inventory… I know I have! This will eliminate situations like that, benefit XP grinders and will just be a nice feature that we will finally all have access to soon.
- A Special Research story that introduces new Trainers to the world of Pokémon GO.
We can assume that this will grant helpful items for new Trainers which will give them a headstart on their journey and possibly be able to catch some strong Pokémon too.
Thank you for continuing to help us improve Pokémon GO. We look forward to seeing the results of our experiments, and hope to roll out final versions of these features for all players once testing has concluded and we’ve confirmed the updates work as envisioned.
Please be aware of your surroundings and follow guidelines from local health authorities when playing Pokémon GO. Upcoming events are subject to change. Be sure to follow us on social media, opt in to receiving push notifications, and subscribe to our emails to stay updated. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check this help center article.
Parting Words
These are some exciting features to be on the lookout for in the next few months.
Encouraging new Trainers to try out Pokémon GO can be a rewarding experience, both figuratively and literally with the newly introduced rewards program which can grant you bonus items and rare Pokémon encounters.
To get involved with the rewards program, simply click on your avatar profile, scroll to Friends and click ‘Invite’ to share your referral code with a future Trainer!
Remember to stay safe and happy hunting!
–Adam ‘Avrip’
