Pokémon GO Hopes For 2023: Moving Past The Pandemic

2022 was a game-changer for Pokémon GO. We saw Niantic begin to move past the pandemic in major ways, introducing new incentive to get out and play in the real world with Daily Adventure Incense, Elite Raids, in-person events, and more. In honor of the upcoming new year, here are my hopes for Pokémon GO in 2023.

• Niantic gets in touch with what Pokémon GO players enjoy: A major problem with events recently and throughout various eras of the game can be attributed to Niantic having no idea what excites players of their own game. They marketed the Ultra Beast Arrival: Global so hard only to deliver an event that had virtually no content featuring raids that had been readily available for months. That Niantic had a “task force” of players and still are blind to what most players enjoy is startling. I hope to see the company fix this, hire a savvy team, and create a cohesive game where every person working on Pokémon GO contributes to an overall vision. From both playing the game and personally interviewing Niantic team members this year, I am startled at how much further the game is from this goal than it used to be.
• The return of EX Raids: Elite Raids aren’t doing it. EX Raids, where you get an invite and plan to meet at a certain location and time, was a perfect way to make Trainers feel exclusive, which incentivized them to gather. EX Raids need to come back, ideally replacing Elite Raids, which are, from my experience, barren.
• More Legendary Mega Raids: Legendary Mega Raids were introduced this year, along with Mega Latias and Mega Latios. These were incredibly fun and incentivized us to raid Latios and Latias, who had been boring raid features for some time due to the frequency of their features. Dare we hope for Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y raids in 2023?
• More Apex Shadow Pokémon: We got Apex Ho-Oh and Lugia as the rewards of Pokémon GO Tour: Johto rather than Shiny Celebi, which had already been released. I hope Niantic sees that Apex Shadows are actually cool and didn’t just serve as a one-time replacement. While the GO Tours go back to Shiny Mythicals, I’d love to see a major Team GO Rocket event annually continue to release Apex Shadows.
• Attention to Team GO Rocket: Continuing from the last month, the once-monthly feature of Team GO Rocket research has become a twice-annual occurrence at best. Jessie and James were completely absent this year, and why? Bring Team GO Rocket back as a major, consistent feature!
• Trainers in the wild, permanently: Trainers feature as Poké Stop battles for events here and there, but it’s time to bring them out as a consistent feature. This harkens back to the original games and adds a great deal of fun.
• Improved narrative: Finally, Special Research in 2022 saw a strong narrative with the arrival of Ultra Beasts, but the inclusion of Hisuian Pokémon was bungled by them just showing up in the wild. With the story they have, what a wild miss. More narrative and consistent narrative in 2023 would make Pokémon GO far more exciting.