'Pokémon Go' Double XP Event: Niantic teases new update in DICE awards speech

Although Niantic's Pokémon Go Pokémon Day event just started on Feb. 26, a strategically placed comment by a Niantic developer at the DICE awards has led to some wild speculation about the next big update. Based on what we know so far, it looks like the game could introduce double experience points in an upcoming event.

Pokémon Go double XP event: Niantic sparks speculation

In case you missed it, here's what happened: At this year's DICE Awards, Pokémon Go took home Mobile Game of the Year. At the tail end of an interview that appeared on IGN's Snapchat channel, a developer for the game thanked the players for the win, adding, "also, save your candies" before winking and giving a thumbs-up at the camera. An upload of the moment is embedded below for your convenience.

Pokémon Go double XP event: Players react

Naturally, this sparked a huge discussion in The Silph Road community on Reddit. One redditor, staphone_marberry, laid out a pattern they'd observed as a means to explain what the developer's comment at DICE could mean.

"Halloween (double candy) -> Thanksgiving (double xp) -> Christmas/New Year (Special. Santachu + increased Kanto starter spawn rate) -> Valentine's (double candy) -> ? Event (double xp) -> Easter," they wrote, and went on to speculate possible Easter bonuses centered around egg hatching and egg-related Pokémon.

Another redditor, Captain Patent, thought it might be a luck-themed St. Patrick's Day event centered around Lucky Eggs, a consumable item that doubles your XP gain for a 30 minutes.

"I had this discussion with my wife about a week back when we were thinking about how Niantic may celebrate St. Patrick's Day," they wrote. "Because a big theme of the day is 'luck' we figured that they would do something like double the effectiveness of lucky eggs or make everyone 'lucky' by doing double XP."

The presupposition is that the developer was referencing Pidgey Spamming, a relatively efficient way to increase your level in Pokémon Go by catching tons of a common Pokémon (like Pidgey) and leveling them up while under the effects of a lucky egg to maximize the amount of experience you receive. However, with just the developer comment at DICE to go off of currently, it remains to be seen what this upcoming event will actually look like.

Regardless, it's clear that something is happening soon involving those candies. So for right now, focus on catching some good Johto Pokémon to fill out your battling team and enjoy the Pokémon Day event, but don't forget to stock up on those candies. Just in case.

More Pokémon Go news, updates, tips and tricks

If you're booting up the game for the first time in a while to get ready for Gen 2, be sure to check out Mic's guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10km eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.

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