‘Pokémon GO’ Fest 2021 schedule: Niantic confirms major event’s return in July

Niantic found a way to continue its annual tradition of hosting Pokémon GO Fest last year despite the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is then not surprising that the developer has now announced the major event’s return in the summer.

When is Pokémon GO Fest 2021 happening?

In a blog post on Tuesday, Niantic announced that the Pokémon GO Fest is coming back this year as a “two-day global event.” The annual festivity will happen on July 17-18, and that is the only information Niantic is ready to reveal at this point.

Niantic has hosted massive events with in-person attendance for the Pokémon GO Fest from 2017 to 2019. In the first two years, the event took place in Chicago’s Grant Park and Lincoln Park, respectively. By the third year, the US-based version of the festival returned to Grant Park, and Niantic also held satellite events in Dortmund, Germany and Yokohama, Japan.

In 2020, Pokémon GO Fest’s format obviously needed to change drastically as COVID-19 restrictions did not make it viable for the event to proceed with the same approach without risking the health and safety of the players. The festival still turned out to be a huge success, and Niantic later revealed the two-day event last year was still able to gather “millions of Trainers” who caught almost a billion Pokémon.

What to expect from Pokémon GO 2021

Fans will have to wait for further announcements to learn about the details that would be included in Pokémon GO Fest 2021. However, Niantic has already implied that Trainers should set their expectations high as 2021 marks the franchise’s 25th anniversary and “Pokémon GO’s” 5th anniversary. “Trust us when we say you won’t want to miss Pokémon GO Fest 2021,” Niantic added.

Last year, Trainers were welcomed by the featured Pokémon Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and Rotom at the start of the festivities. There was a longer list of Shiny Pokémon released when Pokémon GO Fest commenced in 2020.

However, one of the main attractions of last year’s two-day event was the Global Challenge Arena held on the first day. From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (local time), “Pokémon GO” Trainers had to complete a series of hour-long challenges.

Featured photo by Anton from Pexels