‘Pokemon GO’: Niantic Teases Upcoming Co-Op Feature In Next Updates


Niantic has teased new co-op feature to arrive in Pokemon GO in latest blog post.

Pokemon GO continues to dominate mobile gaming, as Niantic has officially announced by February that Pokemon GO has just surpassed 650 million downloads, with 65 million monthly active players, Donkle Elephant reports. But despite this huge active and inactive player base, Niantic has set its sights to bringing even more people back to the game with feature after feature in every update.

Pokemon GO breaks records and amasses awards [Image by KeongDaGreat / Shutterstock Inc.]

The Inquisitr previously reported that the last Pokemon GO update brought significant bug fixes and traditional Chinese language support. Additionally, there have been reports of an Easter Egg event, which will likely get an announcement early this week with Easter Sunday a week away.

But what’s more exciting is that Niantic may have teased a huge co-op feature, following rumors that a huge overhaul of the current battle and gym system is in the works, iDigital Times reports. One feature that players have been waiting for is trading, a huge component in most Pokemon games and a feature that was long promised in the original Pokemon GO trailer. PVP or Group-vs-AI battles have also been widely anticipated, since the first Pokemon GO trailer also hinted huge team battles against legendary Pokemon.

Trading has been a fundamental element in Pokemon games [Image by Niantic]

Months into the development of Pokemon GO, fans are still patiently waiting for these promised features. But when you’re almost at the brink of giving up, Niantic reels you back in with a small heads up in their latest blog post.

The post starts off as a Thank You post after Pokemon GO won the Best Mobile and Handheld Game at the British Academy of Film, Television and Arts Game Awards (BAFTA Game Awards) last week. This award is another accolade Niantic lists under Pokemon GO, including the following awards:

  • Adweek’s Hot List – Hottest Digital Obsession & Hottest Mobile Game
  • Academy of Arts and Science’s D.I.C.E. Awards – Mobile Game of the Year
  • BBC Radio 1’s Teen Awards – Best Game
  • GameSpot – Best Mobile Games of the Year
  • Golden Joystick Awards – Innovation of the Year & Handheld/Mobile Game of the Year
  • GSMA Glomo Awards 2017 – Best Overall Mobile App
  • IGN – Mobile Game of the Year
  • SXSW Gaming Awards – Mobile Game of the Year
  • TechCrunch’s Crunchies – Best App of the Year
  • The Game Awards – Best Mobile/Handheld Game & Best Family Game
  • The Game Developers Choice Awards – Best Mobile/Handheld Game

But with such honors and accolades, of course, comes great responsibility, and Niantic promises it will stay true to its course and continue bringing more trainers into the fold.

“We continue to be inspired by the passion of the 65+ million people from around the world playing Pokémon GO each month. We’re still at the beginning of the journey and there’s a lot more to come. With spring arriving in the northern hemisphere, players can look forward to all new cooperative social gameplay experiences in Pokémon GO that will give Trainers new and exciting reasons to get back into the sunshine.”

Note the line where Niantic casually mentions “all new cooperative social gameplay experiences in Pokemon GO.” At the moment, there are no cooperative mechanics in Pokemon GO. It’s all tiring and endless farming and grinding, hopping from one place to another to look for Pokemon and PokeStops, and hatch eggs. But all factors are already pointing to the next biggest Pokemon GO feature, which could be a PVP matchmaking system or the huge PVE team battle we’ve been waiting for.

Pokemon GO trailer shows thousands flock to Times Square to catch a Mewtwo [Image by Niantic]

But while Niantic is keeping silent about this co-op feature, much like with everything else for the past few months, one thing is certain: the moment Pokemon GO finally launches these PVP and PVE battle systems is the moment Pokemon trainers will flock back to the game like Pokemon finding their way to lures.

[Featured Image by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]

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