Niantic

Pokémon GO gains 80+ new creatures and a bunch of new features in latest update

Pokémon GO developer Niantic Labs announced two days ago that an upcoming update would bring over eighty new Pokémon and other new features to the popular augmented reality game. Yesterday, the developer said that the new Pokémon GO 1.27.2 update containing those perks began rolling out.

It’s a staggered release so you might need to wait a little bit longer if it’s not live on your local App Store yet. Here’s everything new in Pokémon GO 1.27.2 for iOS.

Trading and real-time player battles coming soon to Pokémon GO

Two key features missing from the initial Pokémon GO release—trading and real-time player battles—are coming soon to Pokémon GO by way of a future update, developer Niantic Labs told WayPoint in a recent interview. Niantic CEO John Hanke said that the team is working on bringing additional features and more depth to the augmented reality game, including the long-awaited Pokémon trading and player vs. player battles in real time.

Valentine’s Day event for trainers in Pokémon GO is kicking off today through next week

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, developer Niantic Labs today announced that a special Valentine’s Day-themed event is available in Pokémon GO beginning today, February 8 at 11am PT / 2pm ET and running through February 15.

During this special  in-game promotion, players will be treated to double the amount of candy every time they catch, hatch and transfer Pokémon. Plus, their Buddy Pokémon will find candy twice as fast.

First wave of second-gen Pokémon now hatch from eggs as wild Pikachus start wearing Santa hats

Pokémon GO players are in for some goodies this week as Niantic is rolling out some of the first of the game’s second-generation Pokémon to players, with more than 100 additional monsters coming within the next few months.

The introduction of these new Pokémon is expected to renew player interest and give existing players something new to hunt after.