Niantic Archives

Mobile game developer Niantic has games featuring two of the world's most iconic IPs under its banner: Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. It's no secret that Pokémon GO is a much larger success than Wizards Unite, but there are ups and downs to both of these games[...]

This is a critique that Niantic has received on their other recent events, including the October Wizarding Weekend and both Community Day events that happened this month As a result of the feedback to these events, Niantic has pledged to make changes, starting with this Brilliant Event Let's take a look back and determine if[...]

Credit: Niantic The full raid rotation for the 2020 Halloween Event in Pokémon GO includes: Tier One:  Duskull – shiny available, standard rate Costume Bulbasaur – shiny available, unknown rate Costume Charmander – shiny available, unknown rate Costume Squirtle – shiny available, unknown rate Mawile – shiny available, boosted rate Misdreavus – shiny available, standard rate Costume Sableye – shiny available, standard rate Timburr – shiny[...]

Niantic finally did it After two Halloweens of only one Spiritomb per trainer, Shiny Spiritomb is now released in Pokémon GO. While it will not be spawning in the wild, trainers will have a shot to catch more than one of these for the 2020 Halloween Event Here's how you can hunt Shiny Spiritomb in Pokémon GO. Regular and[...]

Credit: Niantic A Spooky Message Unmasked consists of: Page One of Four: Catch 30 Ghost Type Pokémon: Duskull encounter with a Shiny chance Transfer 4 Pokémon: 340 Stardust Catch 34 Pokémon: 340 XP REWARD: Yamask encounter with a Shiny chance, 3 Pinap Berries, 4 Razz Berries Page Two of Four: Catch 10 Dark-type Pokémon: Costume Sableye encounter with a Shiny chance Make 8 Nice[...]

Niantic has announced a surprise Halloween Event taking place in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Not included in their announcement of the Darkness Unleashed Halloween Event, however, was the breakdown of the Special Assignment that will task players with returning Legends of Hogwarts Foundables We have the full questline for this Special Assignment, including rewards, which you[...]

Credit: Niantic The full Mega Gengar Timed Research in Pokémon GO includes: Page One of Three: Transfer 13 Pokémon: x0 PokéBalls Catch 13 Ghost-type Pokémon: Gastly encounter with a Shiny chance Catch 13 Dark-type Pokémon: Houndour encounter with a Shiny chance REWARD: 50 Mega Gengar Energy, 5 Gastly Candy, 500 Stardust Page Two of Three: Make 9 Nice Throws in a Row: Gastly encounter[...]

However, looking into the roles these Pokémon play in other games, and even the anime, can enrich the experience of encountering these creatures in Niantic's mobile game In honor of tonight's debut of Mega Gengar Raids, let's take a deep dive into this Ghost-type Pokémon's lore, just in time for the Halloween Event. Official Gengar artwork[...]

Evolving Galarian Farfetch'd involves more than just farming candy. Here's how you can obtain Sirfetch'd in Pokémon GO.

Niantic has announced a Halloween event, ominously titled "Darkness Unleashed," that will task players with battling against a particularly dark surge of the Calamity. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Darkness Unleashed Halloween Event promotional image Credit: Niantic Darkness Unleashed will run from Friday, October 30th at 11 AM Pacific until Monday, November 2nd at 11 AM Pacific Straight[...]

Credit: Niantic Here's what Niantic had to say in their announcement about the changes coming to Special Research in Pokémon GO: "[We're] updating when Trainers will receive Special Research lines released in the past so that it is not overwhelming for new Trainers For example, instead of receiving multiple Special Research lines after completing the A Mythical Discovery[...]

Following the announcements of sponsored-events in Japan, Mexico, and the United States, Niantic has scheduled yet another region-specific event in Pokémon GO… but this one is a celebration rather than a sponsorship Taking place during the tail end of this year's Halloween 2020 event, Latin American Pokémon trainers will be able to participate in a[...]

Niantic released a post where they announced that they wouldn't yet be announcing the next Legendary Raid Boss after Darkrai in Pokémon GO, proceeded to announce the next next Raid Boss, and then once again told trainers that they would be keeping the next next next Raid Boss a secret[...]

Niantic has announced their November updates for Pokémon GO, including the monthly Research Breakthrough In this year of type-themed breakthroughs, which has replaced the fan-favorite Legendary Breakthroughs that used to bring Pokémon like Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Lugia, and Ho-oh to players, Niantic has switched gears to feature Pokémon of varying rarity, including some that can[...]

The latest Pokémon GO update has brought a new feature to Niantic's hit mobile game Is it a new species that has yet to be released in-game? A new Shiny form of a fan-favorite Pokémon? A way to mass-send Gifts to Friends? No It's "AR Mapping," which essentially tasks trainers with taking video footage of[...]

However, with Galarian variants of previously released species already showing up in Pokémon GO, how long will it be before the Galar variants of the Legendary Birds show up in Niantic's mobile hit? Not yet released in Pokémon GO, these are the Legendary Birds of Galar Credit: The Pokémon Company International There's no telling with Galarian Articuno, Zapdos,[...]

Credit: Niantic Ahead of Giratina Raid Hour, your best bet would be to prepare two teams of counters This way, instead of using Niantic's defense-based "Recommended" choices, you can prioritize your raid party by Pokémon who have the highest DPS (damage per second) times TDO (total damage output) This equation tells you who the overall best[...]

Credit: Niantic The Generation Two non-Shiny-capable species include: Hoothoot, Noctowl: This family of Normal/Flying-type Pokémon are pretty standard golden shinies, which works well with their color palette Hoothoot retains its red eyes, while the tops and back of Noctowl's dark-brown wings shift to match its pre-evolution's red. Spinarak, Ariados: Never has a spider looked so much like dessert[...]

Credit: Niantic The current Pokémon GO raids include: Tier One Carvanha – Shiny capable, standard odds Dratini – Shiny capable, standard odds Klink – Shiny capable, boosted odds Misdreavus- Shiny capable, standard odds Sableye- Shiny capable, standard odds Shinx – Shiny capable, boosted odds Timburr – Shiny capable, boosted odds While there is nothing incredibly spicy here, it's nice to see three raid/egg exclusives at the[...]

Credit: Niantic As per the latest Pokémon GO announcement, 2KM eggs can hatch the following Pokémon: Zubat – Shiny capable, full odds Poliwag – Shiny capable, full odds Cubone – Shiny capable, full odds Magikarp – Shiny capable, full odds Mareep – Shiny capable, full odds Wooper Snubbull – Shiny capable, full odds Volbeat – Region exclusive, only available to Pokémon GO trainers in[...]

However, looking into the roles these Pokémon play in other games, and even the anime, can enrich the experience of raiding these creatures in Niantic's mobile game In honor of tonight's Shuppet Spotlight Hour, let's take a deep dive into this Puppet Pokémon's lore before it leaves raids this Friday. Pokémon GO players could discover more[...]

Niantic has announced a series of new partnerships and exclusive events for Pokémon GO this fall, including GrubHub and 7-Eleven Mexico Now, there is yet another collaboration coming up that will bring special Pokémon, Timed Research, and new avatar items to Pokémon GO trainers with a Verizon-sponsored event. Pokémon GO and Verizon event promotional image[...]

Credit: The Pokémon Company International and Niantic To maximize on Shuppet Spotlight Hour in Pokémon GO, take note of our tips: If you are on foot, choosing an area with a lot of Pokéstops is essential The spawn rate during these hours is great, but you're going to want to increase your odds of catching a Shiny Shuppet in[...]

Credit: Niantic So… we gave Niantic the benefit of the doubt perhaps a bit too quickly Following the discovery of Darkrai's signature attack Dark Void added in a recent update, social media took this as confirmation that Darkrai would be the Halloween event raid boss Niantic normally brings their A-game for  Halloween, so in my piece[...]

Credit: Niantic The Special Assignment for the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Darkness Rising Brilliant Event Part 2 will include: Page One of Four Collect 2 Ingredients or Portmanteaus: 2 Snowdrop Use Tonic for Trace Detection 2 Times: Ginger Root Return 10 Brilliant Dark Wizard: 2 Strong Exstimulo Potions REWARDS: 550 XP, 50 Brilliant Family XP, 2 Restricted Section Books, 10 Spell Energy Page[...]

Credit: Niantic Pokémon GO Event Spawns & Shiny Releases The Seasons Change Part 2 event was unique in that it carried over events from Seasons Change Part 1, including the newly Shiny-capable Vulpix This was a very welcome but unexpected feature, allowing players a full week and a half to hunt Vulpix rather than the four days[...]

After Niantic frustrated the game's community yesterday with a September Makeup Community Day focused on the Ministry Atrium page, today's October 2020 Community Day switched focus to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, the magical joke shop owned by J.K Rowling's iconic ginger twins, Fred and George Weasley Did this Community Day go over any better than yesterday's difficult-to-complete[...]

However, Niantic has brought that expectation down with a year of pattern-breaking choices, voting systems with limited options, and spotlighted Pokémon that have already had an in-game Shiny release However, there is still a chance that these Pokémon may get their Community Days Let's take a look at the pseudo-Legendaries of Pokémon GO's future. Pokémon GO[...]

Credit: Niantic The Darkness Rising Brilliant Event Part 2 in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will run from Tuesday, October 20th at 11 AM until Tuesday, October, 27th at 11 AM Pacific and will feature the following Brilliant Foundables: Borgin – found in Brilliant Portkeys Brilliant Dark Witch – Encounter on the map Brilliant Dark Wizard – Encounter on the map Giant[...]

Credit: Niantic Before we break down what's inside, it's important to understand how to get Strange Eggs in Pokémon GO They aren't nearly as easy to obtain as other, lower KM eggs, which can be found by spinning Pokéstops or opening gifts These Strange Eggs can only be obtained if you have an open slot before battling[...]