Pokemon Go Groudon Raids are live and could be followed by another big Gen 3 update.
While Trainers have until January 15 to catch the Ground-type Legendary Pokemon, something more unusual could be on the way.
According to dataminers, moves connected to one of Pokemon’s stranger Pocket Monsters have recently been added to the game.
Delibird is a Gen 2 Pokemon that has one very unique move; it’s signature Present, allows for special items in its tail that can cause damage or heal its opponent.
For obvious reasons, this new mechanic has probably been a little hard to incorporate into the game, what with how the current battling system works.
However, dataminers say the Present move was part of a recent Pokemon Go update, leading many to believe it could be launched as part of a new Christmas event.
Niantic have confirmed that they will be launching a Holiday celebration this year, which they hope to make bigger and better than in 2016.
An array of Pokemon were available to catch at increased rates, as well as new bonuses to grab and boxes to buy with Pokecoins.
It’s expected that will see the return of the Festive boxes, as well as a special Pikachu, but fans are also hoping that some new Gen 3 Pocket Monsters will also appear.
Niantic have confirmed that they are releasing Gen 3 in waves, so another few dropping as part of the Holiday Celebrations seems very possible.
Delibird could fit in with that, although Niantic have not confirmed what they have planned for the coming weeks.
There’s also been reports that the new event will not launch until around December 20, which would roughly fit in with what happened last year.
With the current timing, it seems likely that we will get an update on the new event this week, along with whatever new launches they have planned.
It was also recently confirmed that Niantic have released a new box sale that’s timed to end on December 18, which could also point to some new things being released soon.
The special box is currently priced at 480 PokeCoin and includes: 5 x Incense, 6 x Premium Raid Passes and 10 x Pinap Berries.
Whatever does happen with the upcoming Festive event, Niantic have confirmed that they will not be doing anything connected with the recently launched Weather Effects.
The development team have provided a few more details on how this new system will, and won’t, affect the game moving forward.
Niantic have told The Express that they will not be adding in any extra bonuses when it comes to seasonal events.
We were interested to find out if there was any appetite to maybe do something new with Weather Effects, perhaps providing a Winter Week to fans so that everyone could grab some specialised Pocket Monsters.
This would prove helpful to those who lived in areas with less cyclical weather patterns, but it’s not something that Niantic are looking into doing.
However, Niantic developer Matt Slemon had this to say on the subject, telling The Express: “The most important things for us when it comes to the Weather feature is that we enforce it is an AR feature.
“This isn’t something we want to make up, so we don’t want to virtualise snow for instance, in Los Angeles.
“We want the weather (in Pokemon Go) to reflect what the weather’s like outside.
“That being said, if there are Pokemon that might spawn more often in the snow, you might still see them through events showing up because of the event, rather than because it’s snowing outside.”