Niantic shared artwork today to celebrate Pokémon Go’s fourth anniversary—and it’s full of details that hint at some of the game’s next surprises.
The image teases the addition of Generation Six to the mobile game. The Kalos region starters—Fennekin, Froakie, and Chespin—can be seen in different spots. This came as a surprise to many fans since there’s still a handful of Pokémon from the Unova region that aren’t available yet.
Mega Evolution versions of Lucario, Charizard, and Mewtwo, which were confirmed to be coming to the game in one of June’s Pokémon Presents presentations, can also be spotted in the center and upper part of the image.
Victini, who’s confirmed to be one of the Mythical Pokémon available at this year’s Pokémon Go Fest, can be seen among the Pikachu balloons on the right of the picture. A Team Rocket hot air balloon is in the distance floating above them.
Niantic also released a teaser for the online event today. It’s a 30-second video directed by Rian Johnson, who’s responsible for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out. The event is set to happen on July 25 and 26.
Pokémon Go was launched in July 2016 and has found success in the U.S and across the globe. Pokémon Go’s revenue was the highest of any mobile game in its first month at $207 million, according to Guinness World Records.
But the game’s high number of active users didn’t maintain itself for that long. At its early peak, Pokémon Go’s daily user numbers in the U.S. were around 28.5 million. But by December 2017, this number was reduced to five million.
Over the last four years, Niantic has seen a consistent increase in active users since the company has added more generations of Pokémon and developed more features and events for the app. That number jumped to 67 million by 2020. The game has many more players in the Asia Pacific region, where the number of users increased from 84 million to 311 million.
The game has also adapted well to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though social distancing and the whole premise of staying home to protect yourself and others from the disease made the game difficult to be enjoyed.
