Will ‘Pokemon Go’ Add New Eevee Evolutions During Holiday Event?

Dataminers have found evidence that two new Eeveelutions will be added to Pokemon Go in the coming weeks.

Pokemon Go is launching its annual holiday event later today, which means lots of new bonuses and Pokemon for players to find. One of this year’s big features is the addition of Pokemon like Snover, Munchlax, and Chingling, continuing Pokemon Go‘s slow rollout of “Gen 4” Pokemon.

However, there could be a few surprises in store for later today. Pokemon Go developers recently updated the Buddy Distance for Glaceon and Leafeon, the two Eevee evolutions added in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

The Buddy Distance determines how long a player needs to walk a Pokemon in order for it to find a Buddy Candy. Leafeon and Glaceon’s Buddy Distances were both updated to match that of other Eeveelutions, and it’s a potential sign that the Pokemon could be added to the game relatively soon. As the Holiday Event is focused on Ice-type Pokemon, it would make sense to introduce arguably the most popular Ice-type Pokemon from the Sinnoh region.

Of course, there’s still a few questions surrounding how the new Eeveelutions would work. In the games, Eevee only evolves into Glaceon or Leafeon if evolved near the Icy Rock or the Moss Rock – two types of rock formations found in specific areas. Obviously, Pokemon Go doesn’t have mechanics like that built into the game, so it would either need to rely on a Sinnoh Stone evolution or would need to add Glaceon and Leafeon into Eevee’s random evolutionary pool.

We’ll see if this update is just preparation for a future release, or if it’s a sign that the Eeveelutions will be added to the game later today. Pokemon Go‘s Holiday Event begins on December 18th at 4 PM and runs through January 2nd.