As the latest season of Pokemon GO winds down, players are left to look to the future as usual. So far, the Season of Heritage has offered players everything from close encounters with the Unova region's Dragon-types to a new wave of battles with Team Rocket. Niantic will probably announce the contents of the next Pokemon GO season soon, but considering how wildly their themes have varied so far, there's no knowing just what kind of Season the developer might have in mind. Fans can only get glimpses of the future when leakers or dataminers claim to find some insights.
Some Pokemon GO dataminers have supposedly found evidence that the Alola region's Pokemon will be coming to the game soon. That's bound to be a relief to many Pokemon GO players; although many Alolan variants have joined Pokemon GO, the region's exclusive monsters remain unavailable. The end of the Season of Heritage makes this discovery particularly significant. It's possible that Niantic will use the next Pokemon GO season to roll out several of Alola's most recognizable Pokemon.
A Possible Alolan Season in Pokemon GO
A Pokemon GO Season specifically focused on the Alolan region seems likely. In a recent dev diary, Niantic said it wants to build more intricate narratives for Pokemon GO's Seasons moving forward. In order to do so, it may very well pick one region to focus on and explore that place in greater depth. Early Pokemon GO Season have had slightly more nebulous themes, but the recent Season of Mischief's heavy focus on Hoopa may suggest that Pokemon GO is already moving in the direction of focused, specific Season narratives.
Alola certainly provides fertile soil on which to build a narrative-driven Season. The Season could start with events focused on each of Pokemon Sun and Moon's starter Pokemon, letting players collect Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio, then lead into waves of other Alola exclusives that build up to Raids featuring each of Alola's guardian deities. In the same vein as Hoopa's Special Research quest during the Season of Mischief, an Alolan Season could give players a Cosmog as part of Special Research, then eventually give players the resources to evolve it into either Solgaleo or Lunala. There's lots of ways that the Generation 7 Pokemon region could inspire a compelling Pokemon GO season.
Measuring Out Alolan Pokemon
It's worth noting that if Pokemon GO does have an Alola-themed season next, fans shouldn't expect all the region's Pokemon to join the game at once. Niantic would probably only introduce a handful of the region's exclusive Pokemon during the Season. By saving the majority of these Pokemon up, Niantic can slowly continue adding Alolan monsters to the game over a long period of time. Pokemon GO is starting to run out of Pokemon to introduce as it reaches the end of the current mainline Pokemon game list, so Niantic will almost certainly be conservative with new Pokemon additions in the future - even if the next Season is all about Alola.
Regardless of whether Niantic actually wants to do an Alola-themed season, it's great to see some evidence that Alolan Pokemon will join Pokemon GO soon. Alolan Pokemon variants have been in the game since 2018, but tons of monsters unique to the region have been missing even as Pokemon GO introduces newer Galarian Pokemon as well as Hisuian variants from Legends: Arceus. Pokemon GO's next season doesn't have to focus on the Alola region, but hopefully its theme at least provides good cause for Rowlet, Popplio, Litten, and their peers to join the game.
Pokemon GO is available now for Android and iOS devices.
