Trainers,

Wow, what an incredible year of Pokémon GO Community Day meetups around the world! In the past twelve months, more than 100 million Trainers have come out to play during these special three-hour events. We’ve seen photos of thousands gathering to celebrate their love for Pokémon GO. We’ve been inspired by the countless smiles on the faces of those who caught their first Shiny Pokémon, and the looks of determination on Trainers still searching for their lucky encounter. We’ve seen so many vibrant groups from all over the world self-organize to gather food and clothing donations for their local charities, taking the opportunity to have fun and do good at the same time. We’ve read your fan predictions online about what’s coming next–some of which have been spot-on, and some of which, honestly, have been pretty far out there.

All in all, we are so happy with how the Pokémon GO community has responded to Community Day, and we just wanted to wrap this year up by sharing some of our favorite moments from 2018.

Around this time last year, we were faced with a pretty tough challenge. You see, at Niantic we believe that live events are the best way to experience our games; there’s something truly special about exploring the world around you alongside thousands of other passionate people. Unfortunately, it’s just not possible to host a Pokémon GO Fest or Pokémon GO Safari Zone in every city around the world (it's a work in progress!) We wanted to bring the live event experience to everyone, and so we thought, why not create a GLOBAL event which encourages Trainers to get outside and play together. And thus, Pokémon GO Community Day was born.

Since then, you have:

Caught 4.4 billion Community Day Featured Pokémon

Walked over 500 million kilometers in search of Pokémon

Encountered some unique Squirtle shading their eyes from the summer sun

Evolved over 36 million Eevee

Discovered 23 million Ditto disguised as the Mythical Pokémon Meltan (though some of you assumed it was a glitch!)

Traded 112 million Pokémon for a shot at becoming Lucky Pokémon

Hatched 218 million Eggs

This would not have been possible without your dedication, enthusiasm, and excitement every month of 2018. We sincerely hope that throughout it all, you had fun getting out and playing together as a community. Stay tuned for more surprises in 2019, and until then, have a Happy New Year!



—Michael Steranka, Senior Marketing Manager, Global Live Events