Pokémon Go has been exploding in popularity over these last few years. As the game reaches $3 billion in lifetime revenue, players are always looking for more things to do and more Pokémon to capture. Now, we finally have the culmination of something Niantic has been building to for weeks. There’s been this conflict brewing in Pokémon Go for a while now involving the infamous Team Rocket, or more accurately their mobile incarnation, Team GO Rocket.
Professor Willow has been tracking their movements for weeks now, helping players figure out exactly what the criminal gang has planned. Willow would release various reports detailing the things the gang was up to, starting with reports that initially began as journal entries, aimed at discussing the attempts of Team Rocket Grunts to collect Mysterious Components. These components were being used to construct some unknown device, and Willow may have figured out what said device was for.
It’s unclear what that mysterious device was for, but it seems very likely that the three leaders scattered around as bosses hold some crucial element for its construction. It’s entirely possible that finishing the device will allow players to use it to hack their way into Team GO Rocket’s main base to confront Giovanni.
As part of the hyping up for the event, Niantic has released a handful of teasers and a new trailer, which can be seen below.
The trailer paints the whole thing as an emergency, and it kind of is. Team GO Rocket isn’t playing around, as they’re putting their leaders and cronies into fully active states. These encounters will begin to spawn all over the globe for players to hunt down. Players will have to take down multiple of these leaders before finally encountering the boss raid, Giovanni, the iconic leader of the original Team Rocket. Be careful though, as he’s packing some serious power with his team full of legendaries. These appear to be Shadow variants of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
Also, beware of decoys when hunting Giovanni. Team Rocket have been alerted to Team Valor, Mystic, and Instinct’s plans. Some Grunts will dress up as Giovanni to throw the player off
With the addition of this event, there’s been a ton of good press and reaction from fans for Pokémon Go. There was the well-received Halloween event followed up by the introduction of more Generation 5 roster members to the captrureable list of Pokemon. And with the full ranked battle system coming next year, things are only about to get more crazy.
