Good and bad news this week as Niantic has announced the cancelation of certain public events in their flagship mobile game. With the impending launch of Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution on Netflix incoming, fans are gearing up for more events and goodies being given out in Pokémon Go and other games. These events have seen quite a few different outings and events that help fans get out and capture some new monster buddies.
The party hat variants of various Pokémon in Pokémon Go were introduced alongside other special variants, like cloned Pokémon, to give players a unique set of quarry as a celebration of the Pokémon brand. This newest set of party hat-wearing friends is set to go live on March 1st. Earlier today though, it was announced that the event’s next phase would not be present in all regions.
The two Gen One entries, Nidorino and Gengar, will no longer be appearing in Japan, South Korea, and Italy as part of raids that were set to spawn next month. The Raids that were set to include the new versions of Nidorino and Gengar also include Charizard, Blastoise, Venasur, and Pikachu, which spawn as part of various Raid ratings. There was also some other party hat-wearing beasties too.
It’s pretty clear why this change happened though. The ongoing spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has been causing untold chaos throughout the gaming industry. The disease has spread throughout many different countries after beginning in China. The disease has led to multiple cancelations, and the three countries listed have all felt the effects of this new infection.
Other gaming evens were delayed or canceled as a result of this viral spread. The most recent delay was the full postponement of GDC 2020 until Summer 2020. Other games, such as Plague Inc. were hit by some weird happenings as that game was pulled from the Chinese app store.
These raids should still be available to all other players around the world in Pokémon Go. There may be more news coming via the social media accounts for the game over the next few days, so keep an eye out.
