A new gym update is coming to Pokemon Go. (Niantic)
UPDATE: Gyms are now re-open in Pokemon Go! As we previously speculated, the gyms opened at about 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday.
Several days after being taken offline, gyms remain under construction in Pokemon Go, even as the latest update to the game has rolled out. So when, exactly, should players expect gyms to be re-activated?
Rarely does Niantic announce any specific dates or times for these kinds of things. But the company previously said that gyms would be activated shortly after the new update came out. That update was released on Wednesday afternoon, meaning gyms should be re-activated any moment now.
In the past, major changes to the game such as this have generally ocurred at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. It seems likely, then, that the gyms will go back online at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, June 22nd.
One piece of evidence that it will happen today is that the Pokemon Go app as of early Thursday afternoon is now forcing players to update to the latest version of the game. Niantic probably wants to wait to open the gyms again until absolutely all players have the most recent update. They can ensure everyone has it by not allowing anyone to play Pokemon Go without downloading the update, something that Niantic is now accomplishing with its forced update. This suggests that the gyms being opened is not far behind, and when Niantic launched the second generation of Pokemon earlier this year, they forced an app update and then released the Pokemon that same day.
When Niantic originally announced that gyms had gone offline, they said on Twitter, “Once the next update rolls out to all players around the world, Gyms will return. Stay tuned for more details.”
With something this significant, Niantic is presumably going to want to launch the gyms during normal business hours, and their offices are located in California. So if it does end up getting to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time or so today and gyms are still under construction, it’s a safe bet that the update won’t be out until Friday. If the update is to come on Thursday, it will be in the next several hours.
Stay tuned to this post for further information about gyms being re-activated in Pokemon Go.