Pokémon GO is currently hosting a number of live events, such as the upcoming GO Fest in Seattle. We at MeinMMO spoke with Niantic and asked if there will be more of these events soon and if they are planned for Germany as well. We show you all the answers.
What kind of events are we talking about?
While Pokémon GO has regular themed events that you can participate in from anywhere in the world, Niantic has also finally brought back live events this year. For example, Pokémon GO hosted a huge GO Fest in Berlin on the first weekend of July. This gave participating trainers the opportunity to meet like-minded people, and they caught a total of 14,000,000 Pokémon and covered 303,000 kilometers on site (via pokemongolive.com). But what about future live events, anyway? What is planned? And can German players look forward to such an event again? That’s what we wanted to know in an interview with Niantic and asked Philip Marz, Head of Regional Marketing Pokémon GO (EMEA), about GO Fest in Berlin.
Is Niantic planning more live events in Pokémon GO soon?
After Pokémon GO had to limit itself in the last two years, due to the pandemic, regarding the implementation of events on site, a large live event in Germany took place again for a long time with the GO Fest in Berlin.
Countless trainers took advantage of this opportunity and traveled to the Britzer Garten to play together and enjoy the unique atmosphere. And even though the next live event in Seattle is already in the starting blocks, we wanted to know if more live events are planned in the future, especially in Germany.
Are more live events planned?
In an interview, Philip Marz told us that events are one of Niantic’s core principles, based on their 3 pillars of movement, discovery, and real-world encounters. Thus, live events will continue to be an integral part of Pokémon GO in the future.
In doing so, Niantic is keen to make the widest possible range of events available to the community, where trainers can meet and play together. Here’s what Marz told us specifically:
Events are at the core of Niantic’s mission, which is based on three principles, which are: Movement, Discovery, and Real World Encounter. And of course, nothing lends itself to that better than providing a guided framework for that with the events that we do, regardless of how big they end up being, and then making them available to the community as best we can and as broadly as we can.
Will there be new formats?
There are now several forms of live events in Pokémon GO. For example, MeetUps were introduced in March for Community Days. These offer trainers a smaller setting than, for example, GO Fest, but still invite them to play together.
According to Marz, these events will continue to be held in the future. For example, there will be another GO Fest in 2023. In addition, Niantic is also working on new event formats, such as the GO Tour. Accordingly, this will also have live events. Unfortunately, Marz was unable to reveal when and where these will take place in the interview.
Of course, this can vary greatly and be of different sizes, such as the GO Fest. That is of course the most exclusive event format, which we deliberately reduce to once a year, and there we can already look forward to the fact that there will be again next year.
In the same way, we are working on other event formats, such as the GO Tour on a global level, for the time being. There, the locations have not yet been defined where that will be. But there, too, we regularly try to really create opportunities for the community to act exactly according to these three principles.
And then, what we recently introduced of course, or in March, is the Community Days, where we also basically created such a smaller platform, whether it was in the real world or the virtual activation. But just saying ‘hey, if you want to meet with like-minded people, this is the ideal place’. And that’s definitely something that we’re going to push for the next few months as well.
Will there be live events in Germany again?
Yes, according to Marz, Germany is an “extremely important market” for Niantic, which is why there will also be more live events here in the future. However, the size of the events will vary, which is why large events, such as GO Fest, will remain exclusive and thus be limited to once a year. However, he could not yet tell us when the next live event will take place in Germany.
And Germany is basically an extremely important market for us, also a big market. That means it will always be our endeavor to always and regularly offer a basis where the community can come together, exchange ideas and enjoy a shared gaming experience.
Which German cities would be possible?
After we were given hope for more live events in Germany, we wanted to know a bit more and asked which cities are on the shortlist. But according to Marz, that’s not so easy to say. The big events, like the GO Fest in Berlin, of course also require a large area.
So, in addition to an appropriate size, the venue must meet other, different criteria, such as sufficient overnight accommodations, the potential for discovery and good accessibility. This limits the choice of cities in Germany. So he says:
Of course, there are cities that you always flirt with. If you were to ask me personally, it would always end up being the top five, because of course we also try to use a bit of the radiant effect of these cities. And Berlin, of course, as a capital with a very high global appeal, also due to the uniqueness of Berlin itself, stands for itself.
And apart from that, there are of course other cities such as Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, which in principle always provide a bit of a framework for the environment in which we are looking. Of course, it’s very important for the live events that we implement that they are accessible, that they offer the possibilities for tens of thousands of players to stay overnight in the same place, of course, and that the cities have sufficient potential for discoveries, which brings us back to our principles.
That means that there are of course one or two new cities that we’re looking at, but also old familiar ones, because the main focus is of course driven by the location in which we want to implement the whole thing in the end. And there it is so that we are very limited. And such great parks, like the Britzer Garten or Westfalen Park, you can unfortunately count them on one hand, which then meet all our requirements and at the same time are also available at the time when we need it.
But basically I can say that we can definitely look forward to something like this happening again. And I’m quite sure that we will continue to create great and special experiences for the community, also in Germany. Where exactly that will be, I will of course not reveal at this point in time. I can’t say in detail either, but that’s definitely what we’re striving for.
Marz himself favors the Big 5: Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. However, he did not want to tell us exactly where it could go in the interview. According to his statements, German trainers can still look forward to great experiences in the future.
What about hybrid events in the future?
During the last few months, Niantic has also focused on so-called hybrid events. A good example of this is the Community Days. Thus, since March, it has been possible for trainers to play the event from home or any other place without any disadvantages, but also to meet like-minded people at the so-called MeetUps.
Since Nianic, according to Marz, now also wants to focus more on live events again in the future, we wanted to know from him what the status of hybrid events is.
Will these be preserved?
As Marz tells us in the interview, Niantic understood during the pandemic that trainers want to have events in which everyone can participate, so even if they don’t want to or can’t travel to another location. So there will continue to be hybrid formats in the future.
However, according to the report, it is also very important to Niantic to bring the community together locally, which is why they will continue to prioritize live events. Specifically, he says the following:
GO Fest this year is a series of events consisting of five sub-events, with two global events embracing the three live events, I should say. Just to meet the demand that we can meet both the global community that may not be able to travel, may not want to travel, may not have the opportunity to participate in these events locally. That is something that we have seen, understood and learned in the pandemic and are also very, very happy to adapt, that we can just say ‘okay, everyone can participate’.
But at the same time, it’s also extremely important to us, because that’s what Pokémon GO is partly made for, that you can have this great and unique experience together on site, as we’re experiencing now in the Britzer Garten, and that’s why we’re also defining the selected venues in the different regions, in order to also have a relevant community, I’ll say specifically and on a regional level. [Event] or to offer a live event that you can visit with limited effort. And here, we have definitely found that it’s the mix that makes the difference.
It’s similar there again with the community day activities on a different level. But that’s definitely, also something when it comes to the issue of accessibility and inclusivity. Inclusivity in this context also really means making it possible for many people to participate, regardless of whether they are on site. Then that is definitely something that we also take into account for our future planning.
Whereby the focus is always on saying, you do it together and not at home alone on the couch. And that’s why, I would say, the framework conditions always prioritize this and perhaps make it a bit more attractive than other things.
If we now think in terms of the Community Day framework, at GO Fest it is of course completely different, so there the differences are significant, also in the physical structures, but also a bit in the things that you can then experience, for example, in the habitats or so, because there too we have to find the right balance. But it is definitely part of our planning here.
Accordingly, Niantic is currently trying to find a balance between the global events and the local events. When we can finally expect the next big live event in Germany and whether this will also be made accessible in hybrid form remains to be seen for the time being.
How do you like the prospects of future live events? Would you attend one if it was in Germany again? And which cities do you prefer for such an event? Feel free to write us your opinion about it here on MeinMMO in the comments and share it with other trainers. It was my first time at such a big live event in Pokémon GO. My conclusion: The GO Fest in Berlin was absolutely brilliant and I would participate again immediately.
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