‘Pokemon Go’: What’s the Next Big Update & When Will It Be Released?

Niantic Pokemon Go is available for iOS and Android devices.

It’s been almost two weeks since Pokemon Go‘s gym rework launched, and players are already looking ahead towards the next big update to the game. So what can Pokemon Go players start getting excited for now, and when might the next major update be released?

The next addition to the game that we know for sure is coming soon is the release of legendary Pokemon. This group of rare creatures has been teased ever since the game was released last summer, and there’s been a lot of evidence pointing to the idea that legendaries will come out within the next two months.

With the Raid Battle feature, there are currently only four levels of Raid Bosses possible, but a fifth tier has yet to be unlocked. Niantic has heavily implied that the fifth tier is being reserved for legendary Pokemon. After all, Niantic told Tech Crunch that legendary Pokemon can potentially be Raid Bosses.

“The company also confirmed Legendary Pokémon (uber rare Pokémon that have yet to make an appearance in the game beyond a few hacks/accidental cases) as being potential raid bosses, though they declined to say more,” TechCrunch reported.

As another piece of evidence that legendary Pokemon will be introduced through raids, in one of the game’s original trailers, a bunch of players are seen participating in a Raid Battle against a Mewtwo.

In terms of a date of release, Niantic Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Mathieu de Fayet flat out said in an interview with O Globo that the plan is to release Legendary Pokemon this summer.

While we have no specific time frame, Pokemon Go Chicago Fest takes place on July 22nd in Chicago, Illinois. This massive gathering of players seems like the absolute perfect opportunity for a legendary Raid Boss, and so there is a tremendous amount of speculation that a legendary will be released by then or maybe even earlier. The one-year anniversary of Pokemon Go is also coming up, so July seems like the time for legendary Pokemon to be released for a number of reasons.

After that, there are two more big updates that we know are on the way. The first is some sort of player vs. player system that will allow you to challenge a particular person and engage in an individual Pokemon battle. Niantic has promised for a long time that this will make its way into the game, and in that aforementioned interview with O Globo, Niantic Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Mathieu de Fayet said that player vs player battles are coming this summer.

The second major update that fans are waiting for is the third generation of Pokemon. It’s already been five months since the second generation of Pokemon was released, and Niantic obviously isn’t going to stop there. There have not been as many hints out there about the forthcoming release of the third generation, so this one may be a bit further off.

At this point, nobody knows the release dates for any of these updates, but given what Niantic has said and what their track record has been, it would not be surprising to see legendary Pokemon released later this month, player vs. player battles released in August, and the third generation of Pokemon released sometime in the fall.