According to this, Niantic is currently trying to find a balance between global events and on-site events. When the next large live event will take place in Germany and whether it will also be made available in a hybrid form remains to be seen for now.
How do you like the prospects for future live events? Would you participate in one if it were held in Germany again? And which cities do you prefer for such an event? Feel free to share your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
I attended such a large live event in Pokémon GO for the first time. My conclusion: The GO Fest in Berlin was absolutely amazing, and I would participate again immediately.
Pokémon GO is currently hosting a series of live events, such as the upcoming GO Fest in Seattle. We at MeinMMO spoke with Niantic and asked if there will be more such events soon and if they are planned for Germany as well. We will show you all the answers.
What kind of events are they? While Pokémon GO regularly features thematic events that you can participate in from anywhere in the world, Niantic has finally brought back live events this year.
For example, Pokémon GO hosted a huge GO Fest in Berlin on the first weekend of July. Participating trainers had the opportunity to meet like-minded people and collectively caught a total of 14,000,000 Pokémon and traveled 303,000 kilometers (via pokemongolive.com).
But what about future live events? What is planned? And can German players look forward to another such event? We wanted to know this in an interview with Niantic and asked Philip Marz, Head of Regional Marketing Pokémon GO (EMEA), about the GO Fest in Berlin.
Is Niantic planning more live events in Pokémon GO soon?
After Pokémon GO had to restrict the execution of events in person due to the pandemic in the last two years, a large live event took place in Germany with the GO Fest in Berlin for the first time in a long time.
Countless trainers seized this chance and traveled to Britzer Garten to play together and enjoy the unique atmosphere. And even though the next live event in Seattle is already on the horizon, we wanted to know whether more future live events are planned, especially in Germany.
Are more live events planned? In the interview, Philip Marz told us that events are part of Niantic’s core principles, which are based on their three pillars: movement, discovery, and interaction in the real world. Therefore, live events will continue to be an integral part of Pokémon GO in the future.
Niantic is focused on providing the community with a wide range of offerings where trainers can meet and play together. Marz specifically told us:
Events are at the core of Niantic’s mission, which is based on three principles: movement, discovery, and interaction in the real world. And of course, there is nothing better than providing a guided framework for this through the events we create, regardless of how large they ultimately may be, and making them accessible to the community as broadly as possible.
Philip Marz
Will there be new formats? In Pokémon GO, there are now several forms of live events. In March, MeetUps for Community Days were introduced. These offer trainers a smaller frame than, for example, the GO Fest, but still invite them to play together.
According to Marz, these events will also be maintained in the future. For example, there will be another GO Fest in 2023. Additionally, Niantic is working on new event formats, such as the GO Tour, which is also set to have live events. However, when and where these will take place, Marz unfortunately could not yet tell us in the interview.
This can obviously vary greatly and pursue different scales, such as the GO Fest. This is naturally the most exclusive event format, which we consciously reduce to once a year, and we can already look forward to it happening again next year.
Likewise, we are working on other event formats, such as the GO Tour on a global level, essentially. The venues have not yet been defined, but we are also trying to regularly create opportunities for the community to act according to these three principles.
And recently, of course, we introduced the Community Days, where we also created a smaller platform, whether it was in the real world or via virtual activation. Just to say ‘Hey, if you want to meet like-minded individuals, then here’s the ideal place’. And this is certainly something we will also emphasize in the coming months.
Philip Marz
Will there also be live events in Germany again?
Yes, according to Marz, Germany is an “extremely important market” for Niantic; therefore, there will be more live events here in the future. However, the size of the events will vary, meaning large events like the GO Fest will remain exclusive and limited to once a year. However, he could not yet tell us when the next live event in Germany will take place.
Germany is fundamentally an extremely important market for us and also a large market. This means it will always be our endeavor to regularly provide a foundation where the community can come together, exchange ideas, and enjoy a shared gaming experience.
Philip Marz
Which German cities would be possible? After we were given hope for more live events in Germany, we wanted to know a bit more precisely which cities are even being considered.
However, according to Marz, that is not so easy to say. Large events, like the GO Fest in Berlin, obviously require a large area.
Thus, the venue must not only be large enough but also meet various other criteria, such as sufficient accommodation options, potential for discoveries, and good accessibility. This limits the selection of cities in Germany. He said:
There are certainly cities that one always has an eye on. If you were to ask me personally, in the end, it’s always the top five because we are also trying to utilize the radiance effect of these cities a bit. Berlin stands for itself, of course, as the capital with a very high global radiance due to its uniqueness.
Otherwise, there are certainly other cities like Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, which basically outline the framework of the area we are searching in. Of course, it is very important for the live events we implement that they are accessible, that they offer options for tens of thousands of players to stay overnight at the same location, that the cities also provide sufficient potential for discoveries, which ties back to our principles.
This means that there are certainly a few new cities we are looking at, but also familiar ones because our focus is primarily driven by the location where we ultimately want to implement this. We are quite limited in that respect. And there are only a few great parks, like Britzer Garten or Westfalen Park, that can meet all our requirements and are also available at the time we need them.
However, I can fundamentally say that we can definitely look forward to something like this happening again. And I am sure that we will also create great and special experiences for the community in Germany in the future. Where exactly this will be, I cannot reveal at this point in time, nor can I provide details, but this is definitely what we are aiming for.
Philip Marz
Marz himself favors the big five: Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg. However, he did not want to reveal 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 does the future hold for hybrid events?
In recent months, Niantic has primarily focused on so-called hybrid events. A good example of this is the Community Days. Since March, trainers have been able to play the event from home or any other location without disadvantages, but they can also meet at so-called MeetUps with like-minded individuals.
Since Niantic, according to Marz, now wants to focus more on live events again in the future, we wanted to ask him what the status of hybrid events is.
Will they remain? As Marz explained to us in the interview, Niantic understood during the pandemic that trainers want events where everyone can participate, even if they do not want or cannot travel to another place. Thus, hybrid formats will continue to exist in the future.
However, Niantic finds it very important to bring the community together in person, which is why they will continue to prioritize live events. He specifically said:
The GO Fest this year is a series of events consisting of five parts, where we embrace three live events with two global events, so to speak. To meet the requirement that we can serve both the global community that may not be able to travel, choose not to travel, or have no opportunity to participate in these events on-site. This is something we have truly seen, understood, and learned during the pandemic and are very, very eager to adapt, that we can say ‘Okay, everyone can participate.’
But at the same time, it is extremely important to us because Pokémon GO was made for this, that you can have this amazing and unique experience together on-site, just like we experienced it in Britzer Garten, which is why we define the selected locations in different regions, to offer community-specific and regionally relevant events or live events that can be visited with conditional effort. We have definitely found that the mix works.
Similar is the case with Community Day activities on another level. But this is certainly also something that, when it comes to accessibility and inclusivity, is necessary to allow many to participate, regardless of whether one is on-site. That is definitely a consideration for our future planning.
While the focus remains on doing it together and not sitting at home alone on the couch. Therefore, this will often be prioritized by the framework conditions and perhaps made a bit more attractive than other things.
When we think in terms of Community Day, the GO Fest is, of course, quite different; the differences are substantial, both in terms of physical setups and also a bit in the things that can be experienced in the habitats, because we need to strike the right balance there. But it is definitely part of our planning.
Philip Marz
According to this, Niantic is currently trying to find a balance between global events and on-site events. When the next large live event will take place in Germany and whether it will also be made available in a hybrid form remains to be seen for now.
How do you like the prospects for future live events? Would you participate in one if it were held in Germany again? And which cities do you prefer for such an event? Feel free to share your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
I attended such a large live event in Pokémon GO for the first time. My conclusion: The GO Fest in Berlin was absolutely amazing, and I would participate again immediately.
