'Pokémon GO' Update: Niantic Adds 80 New Characters
The rise in popularity of Niantic's "Pokémon GO" may have already slowed down, but its developers are frequently providing new ways to keep the game enjoyable.
On Feb. 16, Niantic officially launched a new "Pokémon GO" update that adds more or less 80 new Pokémon characters that can now be collected by players worldwide.
According to Niantic's patch update notes, these 80 new Pokémon additions were originally discovered in the Johto region and they have gender variations. GameSpot, however, noted that these are not the anticipated Generation 2 creatures just yet.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In addition, the update also makes it easier to access Poké balls and berries as these are now located in the encounter screen. New bonus candies for evolving Pokémon can likewise be acquired by players.
As for Apple device users, the update gives the game a night-mode map, along with fixes to bug issues and in-game typos. Apple Watch users can now also enjoy enhanced connection stability.
It is still unclear whether or not the addition of new Pokémon creatures could bring a new type of gameplay in general, but Niantic admitted that they have incorporated updates that could make Pokémon "react in a new way."
The developers, however, are still working on trading and player-versus-player battles that most fans have awaited for a long time.
Upon release, "Pokémon GO" was a sensational hit, raking in daily revenues of $20 million for Niantic, with daily app downloads averaging to 27 million. It experienced a slump starting September 2016 when the fad essentially died down - dipping revenues into only $2 million with only 700,000 downloads each day.
The new update, however, seems to bring the game back to life as Niantic announced through a tweet that they are experiencing issues as of the moment due to an overwhelming number of trainers logging in since the update became available.
