Pokemon GO Update May Add Trading, Battling, In-Game Events

Now that the much talked about buddy system has landed in Pokemon GO, where does the game go from here? We know that Pokemon GO will come to Apple Watch, but that version doesn't seem to be adding any new features to the game itself. Sitting down with Recode's Decode podcast, Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke ran down the list of some of the upcoming features planned for the game.

The first and possibly most immediate feature Hanke talked about was an in-game event system. These events are similar to the ones found in Ingress, with the goal of bringing people to the same location to presumably hunt rare Pokemon, though Hanke said that the team needs to spend more time figuring out if such a feature is doable within the framework of Pokemon GO.

Also unknown is whether or not such events would feature Pokemon that are normally impossible to find, such as Zapdos and Mewtwo. Niantic has kept any information about the availability of these legendary Pokemon under wraps, so it isn't exactly surprising that he didn't want to give a direct answer when asked about it this time around.

Obviously, it isn't Pokemon without trading or battling, and it sounds like the former is a feature that's actively being worked on over in the Niantic offices. When it will in Pokemon GO arrive is anyone's guess, but it's a long-requested feature, so to hear that it's in development doesn't come as much of a shock.

Whether or not battling will ever be added to Pokemon GO is a little more nebulous. Hanke said that it's something the team has talked about at great length, but didn't go far enough to suggest that it's a feature we'd actually see at some point in the future. Being able to battle other players you meet in the real world would be a pretty incredible addition to the game, so hopefully that's a feature that doesn't get left on the cutting room floor.

SOURCE: Recode