'Pokémon Go' Next Update: Niantic breaks its regular update schedule

Impact

The life of a mobile game is full of updates and fixes, and Pokémon Go isn't likely to break that mold anytime soon. From small bug fixes, APKs and migrations to larger updates like proximity trading and events, the game needs regular updates in order to continue running smoothly. The only thing is, there hasn't been an update in a little while, and players are getting confused.

Pokémon Go next update: Is there a new patch incoming?

Over on the Silph Road, an online hub for Pokémon Go players, one poster started a threat discussing whether anything in particular was up. They pointed out that there hadn't been any mention of an update on the page, even though Pokémon Go was likely due for an update.

"Did the little patch Niantic released after the Gen 2 release count as last week's update if we follow the biweekly update pattern we had pre-Christmas?" they wrote. "This week should be nest migration right? It feels like it's been a while since anything happened."

"I'm not being impatient or demanding new content, but I'm curious as to what others think the hold up might be?" they added. 

Other players seemed to share the thought that it was unusual not to have any bug fixes at the very least. 

"Well they could AT LEAST make a small update with pinap berry fix and Gyarados double candy fix," user Relliq added. 

For those unaware, there's currently a typographical error that displays an incorrect number of candies when you catch a Pokémon you've used a pinap berry on, even though the game awards you the proper amount of candies for doing so. Less innocuous is the Gyarados bug, where catching a Gyarados under the effects of a pinap berry awards you candy as though you'd caught a Magikarp, its prior evolution.

The short answer seems to be that there isn't another update coming within the same schedule that Niantic had been keeping pre-Christmas, but before you get too bummed, there might be a good reason for it.

Pokémon Go next update: What happened to the biweekly schedule?

Some posters think this delay in updates has to do with the three major events Niantic CEO John Hanke teased in Wired Germany and at Mobile World Congress.

"They've adopted a longer schedule," another Silph Road user noted. "Now it looks like it will just be the big three remaining updates of the year mentioned at MWC — probably with small bug fix updates in between when necessary."

This would make the most sense, since working on bigger events (like the rollout of a complete overhaul for gyms) would obviously take away time from Niantic's ability to introduce small updates and fixes. It's entirely possible that now that they've teased these big updates, they're committing the bulk of their effort to those features and we won't see as many small updates aside from bug fixes in the interim.

Niantic tends to keep pretty mum about Pokémon Go updates though, so it's not inconceivable that we'll see a surprise update at some point in the future. Until then, we'll just have to keep dreaming about what that promised gym overhaul is going to look like.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips, tricks and updates

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.