Pokemon Go Makes Big Plans for This Summer

Christian Hoffer

11/09/2017 05:42 pm EST

Pokemon Go surprised fans this morning when it made multiple announcements related to its summer plans. With announcements ranging from new features to special "live" events in cities all around the world, it's clear that Pokemon Go is looking to keep its current userbase happy and attract fans who quit playing at some point over the last year.

We covered all the big Pokemon Go announcements this morning, and now we're providing a quick summary for those of you who don't want to search for the news. So keep scrolling and check out what Pokemon Go has planned over the next few months.

A Fire and Ice Event

Pokemon Go's first announcement was something we technically already knew about. The game confirmed plans to hold a Solstice Event beginning on June 13. The event will feature increased spawns of Fire-Type and Ice-Type Pokemon, since the solstice marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemishphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Players will also get extra XP bonuses for various kinds of Poke Ball throws and discounts on Lucky Eggs.

If this news sounds familiar, it's because we already reported on the event last week when a fan group in Europe leaked the news. So while the event is "old news" to some, it still marks the beginning of Pokemon Go's big plans for the summer.

Gym Shutdown and Rework

Pokemon Go also confirmed that a long-planned gym overhaul was rolling out later this summer. Developers for the game have long lamented that the gym system doesn't provide as much "cooperative gameplay" as they'd like and that they hoped to address this in a future update.

Although we're not sure what the gym system will involve, code found in Pokemon Go's GAME_MASTER file hints at "raids" and feeding Pokemon berries regularly to keep them ready to battle in gyms.

To help prepare for the update, Pokemon Go will be shutting down its current gym system later this summer. Although the English press release didn't say when the shutdown would occur, an Italian press release listed a target date of June 16th. All Pokemon will be returned to their players during the shutdown, so that everyone has a chance to get into the new gyms when they open up later this summer.

Pokemon Go Fest

The final announcement involves Pokemon Go's first ever "live event," which will take place in Chicago on July 22. Pokemon Go Fest promises a day of fun Pokemon Go related activities...although what those activities are is unclear.

The promotional image released for Pokemon Go Fest showed several interesting Pokemon, including the regional Pokemon Heracross, Snorlax, and Larvitar, so we're expecting lots of rare spawns at the very least. One type of Pokemon that DIDN'T appear in the promo image were any Legendary Pokemon, so we don't know if this event will be the first chance to catch one of these powerful Pokemon in the wild or not.

Tickets will go on sale for Pokemon Go Fest on June 19th. More information will be revealed about the event when tickets go on sale.

Other Live Events

For those players who don't want to travel to Chicago next month, Pokemon Go has plans to throw other live events in the near future. The game announced plans for the following areas:

Europe: Pokemon Go events will be taking place at Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers across Europe. A full schedule and additional details about the event will be announced soon.

Japan: Pokemon Go is planning a tie-in event to coincide with the Pikachu Outbreak Festival in Yokohama. Again, we don't know what the live event will be, but the Pikachu Outbreak festival takes place in August.

USA: No additional live events were announced, but Pokemon Go is working with the Knight Foundation and their ongoing OpenStreets events. We're guessing that Pokemon Go will beef up their presence at those events later this summer.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.

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