The Pokémon GO Fest 2020 has been announced! We will give you insights into the event and tell you why this time it will be so different.
What is the GO Fest? This event usually takes place every year at a fixed location. For instance, Dortmund was one of the venues in 2019. When you purchase a ticket, you can experience special bonuses and catch exciting Pokémon there for a few hours.
However, 2020 will be slightly different. Due to the Corona crisis, the event will not take place at a fixed location, but you can comfortably play it from home.
This is what the GO Fest 2020 brings
When does the event run? This time you can buy a ticket for 2 days. The event runs on July 25 and 26 from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM each day. So you will have a total of 20 hours of event fun.
How much does a ticket cost? The ticket for the event costs $14.99 plus taxes. So it is cheaper than last year’s ticket – which cost 25 € plus taxes. By the way, tickets are unlimited. So you don’t need luck to get a ticket.
This is how the GO Fest will unfold: The two event days will be different. We provide an overview of what will happen:
- Day 1
- Here you will gain access to a special research that will only be available this day.
- Every hour the habitat changes – that is, Pokémon of different types will appear. In total, there are 5 habitats (Fire, Water, Plant, Battle, and Friendship), each available twice.
- In total, there are over 75 different Pokémon to catch that day – from raids, in the wild, or from special field research.
- Day 2
- Something special is expected to happen here, which is not yet known in detail. So far, it is only known that there will be a different special research available there.
This feature is exclusive: During the first day of the GO Fest, there will be the “Global Challenge Arena.” This is a special website where you can view the global challenges that exist at the GO Fest.
Additionally, you can see how much you have contributed to these tasks and how your friends have performed in this challenge.
This feature will only be available for participants of the GO Fest and will not be available afterward.
What are habitats? In the last GO Fests, there were these habitats. One would move from one habitat to another where Pokémon of different habitats would appear. Habitats are areas where Pokémon of specific types appear.
What does this mean for the GO Fest? On the first day, the focus will be on catching Pokémon. The rotating habitats are known from previous smoke days. Pokémon of specific types spawned in the smoke for one hour each. It is expected that the same will happen at the GO Fest.
The second day may bring some surprises. What exactly awaits us here is still unclear.
Will a mysterious Pokémon come to the GO Fest?
What about special Pokémon? MeinMMO was present at a press event before this announcement. Laura Warner, Senior Game Designer of Pokémon GO, mentioned that there will be a mysterious Pokémon this time as well. However, which Pokémon it will be has not yet been revealed.
Many trainers are expecting Shaymin for the GO Fest. Several teasers from the first announcement suggest this.
Regional Pokémon at the GO Fest?
What about regional Pokémon? At the press event, Niantic stated that there would be no regional rewards this year. However, what exactly that means remains unclear.
We will conduct an interview with Niantic officials later this week. We might get an answer to the question on this topic there.
This is supposed to bring the GO Fest feeling: During the event, there will also be virtual team lounges. These usually stand on the GO Fest grounds and invite for a breather.
In 2020, there will be a digital version of this. There, you can meet with team members and even win prizes.
Moreover, there will be a set that you can print out at home. From this set, you can create gifts that you can then give to friends in your vicinity.
Niantic Social comes – What is that?
This is the feature: Just in time for summer, the “Niantic Social” feature will be launched. With it, you can see which of your friends are online and how many kilometers you have walked.
This feature will make communication easier for you. You can challenge online friends to trainer battles. The feature will be particularly important for the Raid invitations that will be coming soon.
So, you can send invitations to your raids to all friends who are currently online.
When will the feature be released? There is no exact release date yet. However, Niantic is talking about the feature being released before the GO Fest.
This is what awaits you before the GO Fest
These events are for everyone: Before the start of the GO Fest, there will be several weekly challenges. These will run for a total of 3 weeks and prepare for the GO Fest.
If you complete these challenges, you will unlock special bonuses for the GO Fest. The tasks also include new special research, but there will be more information about that later.
This is reminiscent of the nostalgia challenges in May. There, players also had to complete 4 weekly tasks to unlock a special research at the end.
You can already bridge the time until the GO Fest with exciting events. In June, the solstice event and the bug-catching contest will still take place. There are new shinies and many bonuses. We provided you with a detailed overview of both events in another article.
