When Pokemon GOannounced the Season concept about a years ago, it was clear that the new rotating seasonal approach would be a major driver of content in the mobile AR experience throughout 2021. The team at Niantic seems to be pretty excited about how things played out and it looks like trainers can expect another year full of seasonal spawns, quests, and stories in the coming year.
In this week's Pokemon GO Dev Diary, some of the game’s creators reflected on the last few Seasons and the current Season of Heritage. The blog went beyond just discussing the 2021 seasons though and even offered some hints about how 2022’s event windows will learn 2021 and evolve to make the experiences even more exciting for trainers.
The discussions covered a lot of topics, including Special Research game design, lore, and even a possible shift to move some of the game’s focus back towards incentivizing exercise and more social, in-person activities. Players obviously need to get through the Season of Heritage first, but it’s never too early to start thinking about what the rest of the coming year have have in store…
Season-Length Research versus Multiple Shorter Special Research
The Season of Mischief and the Season of Heritage are taking very different approaches when it comes to Special Research and that appears to be a very deliberate choice. Although there was a lot to like about the massive Season of Mischief research approach, it’s clear that some feedback pointed in the direct of shorter connecting chains, instead.
During the Season of Mischief, we also tried out a Season-long Special Research story for the first time. We felt this was a great way to communicate the Season’s Hoopa-focused narrative and also provide our Trainers with fun and exciting ways to play throughout the Season. However, we did learn a lot along the way, and we’re working hard to make the next Season-long Special Research story better! In the meantime, though, we’re trying a different approach with the Season of Heritage that focuses more on rotating monthly Timed Research tasks and bonuses throughout the Season.
More Lore and Story in Future Seasons
So far, lore has arrived in Pokemon GO in a couple of forms. Usually the story is closely tied to limited time events and is delivered via Timed or Special Research. It sounds like that will likely remain the plan going forward, but the theme of each season will likely help determine which stories are actually being told.
As Seasons continue to expand and develop within Pokémon GO, we look forward to continuing to build upon the story of Pokémon GO to help support and elevate what Seasons mean to Trainers.
Future Seasons
Our team is extremely excited to continue refining the concept of Seasons in Pokémon GO as we move into 2022! Over the next year, we want our Seasonal themes and storylines to act as the focal point for our in-game events, social content, and more. Our goal will be to make you truly feel like Seasons bring about unique, meaningful shifts in Pokémon GO.
The dev diaries definitely drop exciting hints and it's clear that Seasons are going to continue to drive the content in Pokemon GO throughout the year to come. As the early 2022 seasons play out, it will be very interesting to see what new features or other changes arrive in the game. Based on previous patterns, players can expect a new Season to drop every three to four months in the game.
The community should learn much more about this and other new features and activities throughout the early days of the Season of Heritage. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now on mobile devices.
