With the rumored links between Pokémon GO and Pokémon Sword & Shield, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to assume the mobile game will have a big year in 2020.
To some people, Pokémon GO was something that came and went over the course of one beautiful summer back in 2016. For the rest of us, it is a game that only became more enjoyable once the fairweather fans had dispersed. Three and half years later, Pokémon GO is still thriving to the point that it was downloaded for the billionth time earlier this year.
Aside from that initial summer, Pokémon GO’s last six months or so have been its biggest yet. In a successful bid to keep players interested, changes and updates have been coming thick and fast, whether that be by adding more generations of Pokémon, new field research, or the ability to trade with and battle against other trainers.
There’s no time for Niantic to sit back and smell the roses, though. So far, 2019 might have been big for Pokémon GO, but the aim will be for 2020 to be even bigger. There has already been one blockbuster announcement regarding the game’s 2020, the addition of something Niantic has dubbed Battle League. Battle League will allow trainers to battle each other without needing to be right alongside each other.
That’s right, online multiplayer in Pokémon GO, complete with a ranking system. The game’s premise of trying to get people up and active will remain though, and trainers will need to travel to designated areas to battle rather than doing so from the comfort of their own homes. As well as Battle League, there’s also the possibility of Niantic teaming up with Game Freak for some sort of Sword & Shield collaboration.
Some investigating of Pokémon GO’s code has already revealed that Galarian forms of certain Pokémon will be appearing in the real world at some point. Chances are that this will happen on or around the release of Sword & Shield on November 15, 2019. If Niantic and Game Freak are working together though, that leaves the door open for a number of crossover possibilities in 2020.
