Niantic seems to have got a hang of keeping the Pokémon Go buzz going by hosting regular events that provides players with new game features and updates. The trend of issuing updates on Western holidays such as Christmas and Halloween will likely continue with an update expected to roll out on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.
The Pokémon Go Valentine’s Day event is expected to be in line with the theme of the holiday by introducing gendered Pokémon and breeding.
Up till now, Pokémon were genderless and only a trainer could be male or female. The next update is expected to feature Pokémon with gender roles, such as female Pikachu and Raichu that have already emerged in the game’s past updates. The female ones have heart shaped or clipped tails which look different than the Pokémon generally have in the game till now.
But gender is not expected to be a standalone feature without any benefits to players. Rather, it is expected to make Pokémon capable of the next type of evolution — breeding. This new aspect could be amount to increasing your Pokémon stash and could also entice players to acquire more Pokémon for the purpose.
How would it take place in the game?
Niantic is expected to introduce a new ‘nursery’ tab in the game, which could be used for placing two Pokémon of opposite genders. After a specified duration of time, or when the user performs some steps, they would create an egg, similar to ones found in Pokémon nests.
The egg could be hatched in incubators, which players might find upon walking some distance. Forbes’ Paul Tassi, who has predicted many Pokémon updates in the past, predicts the game could offer limited number of slots for eggs, restricting the number that can be acquired by a player at any one point of time. Players could also get 5-20 candies every time an egg hatches.
But if Niantic launches with the feature, the biggest point of interest for players would be the bred Pokémon, which are expected to be higher-level Pokémon than the ones they evolved from. Breeding could also provide players with Pokémon they could not find in their area otherwise, due to region locking restrictions.
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