As the newest update for Pokémon Go is being pushed through to app stores, datamining group PokéMiners have found evidence that points to a subscription service potentially being added to the game.
No actual information on the model of the potential subscription service has been included, but there is data that includes elements that would be featured in an early rollout of such a model.
Included in the data found by PokéMiners in the 0.197.0 update are references to a free trial, a grace period, and some placeholders that would tell players the state of their current subscription.
Also featured in the update is an animation for Feather Dance being added to the game, though the move itself has not been put live. There are also a handful of menus being added under the Egg Help category, which likely will be used in tandem with the new Egg Transparency features coming to the game that will let players see what Pokémon could hatch from each Egg in their inventory.
Level up stats also have text updates for previous level activity, raids won, PokéStops visited, and Pokémon caught.
Update Jan. 13 10:17 pm CT: In the full breakdown of the 0.197.0 update PokéMiners mentioned a few more aspects of a potential subscription model.
There are parts of an in-app purchase model for any would-be subscription service that were found. This also includes active, canceled, expired, and auto-renew details along with validation to activate a sub.
