Niantic will only bring Z-moves and Gigantamax to Pokemon Go if it can make them realistic

Alolan Pokémon have been in Pokémon Go for over a year following their introduction in March 2022. For hardcore fans of Pokémon Sun and Moon though, one core gameplay feature has always been missing—Z-Moves.

As Gen 7 wraps up and we look towards Gen 8 and the Galar Pokédex finally getting more meat, many fans are wondering if Z-Moves will ever show up, and, more importantly, what this means for Gen 8’s Gigantamax Pokémon.

During an interview on May 15, Michael Steranka, the director of Pokémon Go, sat down with Dot Esports to discuss its upcoming Shadow Raids, the response to the HearUsNiantic movement, and also touched briefly on Z-Moves and Gigantamax Pokémon to explain what features from the core series would need to do to make it into Pokémon Go.

“We’re always looking at a lot of the cool things that have been introduced in the main series games and seeing, what, if anything we can do to adapt that to the world of Pokémon Go and make it unique and exciting,” Steranka told Dot Esports. “I think if we were to implement any of those features, and not just those, but anything else from the main series games into Pokémon Go, you can really expect them to not be one-to-one identical, but instead be something that you can only do in the real world.”

Steranka said he had nothing else to say on the matter right now but touched on how Niantic’s philosophy is to try to make things unique. Steranka used the introduction of Kecleon in January 2023 as an example of that, where Niantic is willing to wait as long as it takes to add something only when it makes sense to do so.

And as for the release of Galar Pokémon, Steranka was coy on when fans could expect to see more of them, only saying the team is “always looking for that right window of opportunity where it makes sense within our seasons to release them.”