Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Bidoof Breakout, Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go, Wooper Watch

Pokémon GO Needs More Events Like Bidoof Breakout

It's right there in the title. Pokémon GO needs more events like the Bidoof Breakout, and here's why.

Pokémon GO has dramatically slowed down in 2021. There's really no debate about the matter, as trainers have noticed the structure of the game's releases change dramatically since late 2020 introduction of Seasons. 2018 – 2020 was a relatively consistent period in the history of Pokémon GO. Events were relatively constant and generally were expected to be paired with a Shiny release. Community Days featured a pattern that rotated between Starter Pokémon and Pseudo-Legendaries/high-powered species. These monthly events also guaranteed a new Shiny release. New Generations were treated as major releases and were rolled out in big waves, delivering a bunch of new content at once.

Then, 2020 changed the way that the game was played. Remote Raiding especially made the normal standard of three-week-long to month-long raid rotations feel like forever. At the same time, Pokémon GO began to catch up to the main series games quickly and it became clearer and clearer that they could not maintain the pace they'd set. 2020 saw Shinies released at a higher frequency than ever before… until it all came to a screeching halt. Community Days became uneventful ways to give an undesirable move to common Pokémon who had their Shinies released years prior. Events that featured Shiny releases were far and few between. Generational rollouts slowed to a grinding halt, with Unova still releasing a few species here and there to this day while Kalos releases seem even rarer. Niantic had to do something, but this seemed so sudden.

So what's the path forward?

To me, it's fun and silly events. The Bidoof Breakout saw Niantic display a willingness to play with the format of the game to lean into a joke by putting Bidoof in Tier Five raids. We saw a similar fun event with Wooper Watch when we got a surprise Shiny release for Wooper and a huge flood of the species. We need more light and fun events that create memories. Shiny releases are fun and keep players engaged, but the unique events are what we will remember. Imagine an event featuring all the Costumed Pikachu? We've seen it before, but it's been years and many more have been released. How about one featuring unique variants, like Crystal Onix? Or a narrative Special Research that leads trainers through battles with iconic characters like Brock, Misty, or the Elite Four? If NPCs can be designed after random real-life trainers for Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto in a month's time, surely Niantic can make this a more common occurrence.

Overall, it's not that we need events specifically designed after Bidoof Breakout. What we need is events that operate outside of the box the way that event did. If the game cannot continue the previous pace, it can at least keep its players, many of whom have been playing Pokémon GO for five years now, entertained with well-planned, memorable, and unique events.

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