Rumor: Big Pokemon Go Gym Update to Coincide With Upcoming Monthly Event

05/23/2017 08:06 pm EDT

The next "major update" of Pokemon Go will probably feature a major overhaul of its gym system, which has been criticized as boring, stagnant, and overrun with automated bot users and other players that cheat the system. While we don't know exactly when the gym overhaul will take place, datamines and comments from Pokemon Go's support team indicate that it's coming sooner rather than later. A new rumor suggests that the gym overhaul could coincide with an upcoming event similar to the ongoing Adventure Week.

Slashgear is reporting that Niantic is planning a Fighting-Type Pokemon event to help launch the new gym system. According to the report, the Fighting-Type event would feature increased spawns of Machop, Mankey, and other Fighting-Type Pokemon and would encourage players to fill out their PokeDex and try some of their new Pokemon out in gyms.

The same site also reports that the event AND update would coincide with a new corporate sponsorship for Pokemon Go that would result in the first set of promo codes being released to the public.

We were unable to verify Slashgear's rumors and we should note that they've had a very...mixed history when it comes to reporting on Pokemon Go. However, it does make sense that Pokemon Go would want more players to get Fighting-Type Pokemon around the time of their next update. Fighting-Type Pokemon are pretty critical in Pokemon Go due to their ability to quickly wear down Blissey, the most annoying gym defender in the game. Blissey is one of the few Pokemon that can simply "outwait" a gym attacker by absorbing damage until the attack clock runs out.

One thing does give us pause about this rumor, though. Slashgear claims that the new update and accompanying event could roll out as soon as this Thursday...which is the last day of the current Adventure Week event. That's pretty implausible and casts the validity of the rest of their reporting in doubt.

Stay tuned for more Pokemon Go news as we get it.