Pokémon GO Could Finally Give Special Backgrounds a Bigger Purpose

A newly datamined feature in Pokémon GO suggests that Trainers may soon be able to use their Buddy Pokémon’s Location Card or Special Background as their profile background. The feature isn’t live yet, but assets and functionality have been discovered in version 421.0.

If Scopely decides to release this feature, it finally gives Trainers a meaningful way to customize their profile pages. Not to mention that it also gives more value to Special Backgrounds and Pokémon holding them. Spoilers ahead!

A New Way to Showcase Special Backgrounds

By what we can see, Buddy profile background appears to inherit the Buddy’s Location Card or Special Background. The effect is blended with the existing background with a fade out, which makes most of the text readable. The new backgrounds are limited to v421.0 and future versions, and is not release yet.

Here are the mockups shared by dataminers:

While the discovery is new, the idea itself certainly isn’t. Ever since Location Cards and Special Backgrounds were introduced, Trainers have been asking for better ways to show them off beyond the Pokémon storage screen.

Did Scopely actually listen to the playerbase?

We think they did, as this feature looks very similar to feature ideas that were shared on reddit recently. The newly datamined implementation closely mirrors many of those community mock-ups, especially the highly-upvoted discussions on /r/thesilphroad and /r/pokemongo. Take a look for yourself, some of these ideas have been shared 10 months ago:

• What if special backgrounds were visible on our profiles.
• Imagine being able to showcase exclusive backgrounds on your trainer profile
• Proper use of Pokemon’s background

Although we liked one of the community ideas more than the datamined implementation, we’re not the ones to judge here. If Scopely picks up this and releases it, we are all okay with that. In fact, it seems that the community is as well, with some comments being quite honest:

“The fact that Scopely is listening more to the community in just a year than Niantic ever did in 9 is outstanding”

Final Thoughts

This is still only a datamine, so the feature could change or never be released.

However, what’s notable is how closely it aligns with feedback the community has been giving for months. Rather than introducing another collectible, this feature would make an existing one much more visible, giving Trainers a new way to show off some of their rarest Pokémon.

We hope they stick with it and release it.