It seems Pokemon GO has seen the update we’ve all been waiting for. Niantic Labs has been hyping it for a quite a while now. There was constant buzz that something big was coming to the popular app. There was even talk of secrets that players haven’t found yet. And now, we’re looking at a Starbucks partnership, a hat for Pikachu, and 7 new Pokemon that can only be hatched from eggs. So looking at all that, I can’t help but think, “is that it?”
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m grateful for the update as is. I’m more than happy to hatch some extra eggs and catch some festive-dressed Pikachus. The problem is that this update was pretty heavily hyped by more than one person at Niantic Labs. We’ve been looking forward to getting in trading, battling, a fully functional tracking system, and legendary Pokemon since launch day. And on top of that, they only drop in the baby Pokemon from Generation 2.
Look, I understand the importance of pacing. They can’t give us everything at once. I already discussed the dangers of doing such a huge update all at once. But you have to give your players a bit more to keep them interested. So far, the December update of Pokemon GO borders between underwhelming and disappointing. Perhaps there is more to the update. Maybe, as it gets closer to Christmas, we’ll see something really exciting happen. I sure hope so, at least.