The Gigantamax battles are the toughest challenge in Pokémon GO. For some players, they are too difficult and hardly achievable. Pokémon GO Director Michael Steranka explains the background to the feature.
What is the problem? A Gigantamax Pokémon is very hard to defeat. In battle against the monster, it often takes 20 to 40 trainers bringing strong Dynamax Pokémon that have improved their attacks, and also following the right strategy to achieve victory. Some need to attack, others defend, while others heal.
This is not easy. However, it is particularly difficult when you don’t have the necessary teammates. And that is a factor that spoils the feature for some players. They simply do not have enough players nearby to manage the battles.
At the introduction of the feature, the battles were also only possible on-site, there was no remote function. This has since been introduced, but with an invitation limit of 10 friends per player who is on-site.
So the battles are still not easy. We were on-site at the GO Fest 2025 in Paris and had the opportunity to talk to Pokémon GO Director Michael Steranka about the feature.
Gigantamax should not be too easy
A highlight of the GO Fest on-site was a battle against Gigantamax Inteleon. Because something was possible there that normally doesn’t happen: Over 800 players joined the lobby simultaneously to defeat the difficult boss. It was significantly easier than in everyday life.
Based on this, we asked Michael Steranka: Why are the battles so difficult? And how can players who have difficulties finding the necessary teammates for Gigantamax battles improve their experience?
“Well, first I would recommend Campfire,” Steranka explains. Campfire is an app where you can connect for battles with other trainers – even nearby. You can see when and where the battles appear and try to find teammates through the app.
“Campfire has worked wonders for us in bringing together large groups of players and all sorts of communities around the world. I believe that was the key to getting the critical mass of players for a Gmax battle,” Steranka elaborates.
As a second point, Steranka highlights the new remote function of the Gigantamax battles: “We believe this is a good mix. The ability to bring in 10 people from afar means that realistically only about 5 people need to be present in person, which should be manageable for most locations,” says the director.
However, he also admits: “I think as an individual it would still be very difficult or impossible to get sufficient remote support from friends to win a battle. So one should try to gather enough people in real life for a Gmax battle.”
A completely remote Gmax battle should not be expected by trainers: “We still want the personal component to play a role. It would definitely go against the intent and design of the feature if we said: ‘Hey, this will be a GMax that works completely remotely,'” Steranka explains.
However, the introduction of the remote function was not a short-term decision: “It was always part of our plans to eventually release a remote function for Gigantamax battles. But we wanted to offer it only in-person first, as we believe that is the best way to experience the new system,” Steranka explains.
The reason for this is also in the learning effect. Steranka emphasizes that Dynamax and Gigantamax battles are more challenging than simple raids: “You can’t just use weak Pokémon and tap away. You really have to be strategic and level up your Pokémon so they can contribute. And that is something that is really hard to coordinate from afar,” says Steranka.
The community is supposed to help everyone get a feel for the difficult battles. Through playing together: “So we wanted people to get used to this experience in person, to share their knowledge with their local communities, and to help each other by exchanging. In the sense of ‘Hey, you should upgrade this Pokémon, you should unlock your Dyna attack, your Dyna shield, or your Dyna healing,’ so that as a collective group, you are able to tackle this task.”
After several rotations of Gmax bosses without remote function had taken place, the right time was seen to improve the feature.
How is Gigantamax evolving in Pokémon GO?
We also asked Steranka about this, particularly regarding the massive battle lobby against Gmax Inteleon that players could join at the GO Fest. “At the moment, there is nothing to reveal, but as with everything in Pokémon GO, we continue to evolve over time and implement updates and improvements,” Steranka hints.
“You mentioned that you participated in a GMax battle with over 800 people in the lobby yesterday. We view these GO Fests and our major events also as an opportunity to test things and see what we can actually achieve and enable from a technical standpoint. To help in planning future experiences we may want to develop for the people.”
In that regard, one can remain curious. The rest of this month will still bring some battles to Pokémon GO, as well as the global GO Fest. If you want an overview of everything that is coming up in Pokémon GO, you should check here: All events in June 2025 in Pokémon GO.
