Pokemon Go has been losing its sheen after turning out to be one of the biggest phenomena in the mobile games world. However, maker Niantic is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to retaining players and engaging them with interesting characters. This time it is the Water Festival through which Niantic is looking to interest players.
What’s new with the Water Festival?
Last month’s update for the game was the biggest update since Pokemon Go was released. With the update, about 80 Generation 2 Pokemon made their way into the game, along with evolution items and more.
Now the developer is set to celebrate the Water Festival, in which players will more often come across Pokemon like Magikarp, Totodile, Blastoise, Wartortle, croconaw, Feraligatr and Squirtle. Lapras, one of the rarest characters in the game, will now also be available more often.
It is not just Lapras that will pop up more often; the Pokemon Go makers dropped the biggest surprise in the form of shiny Pokemon. The Silph Road Reddit communities were the first to stumble upon the shiny Magikarp. This Pokemon can be evolved with 400 candies in order to produce shiny red Gyarados.
Near lakes, streams and rivers where water Pokemon are found in abundance, players can see those the Johto region, notes Tech Times. Therefore, players may come across Chinchou, Marill, Wooper, Sloking, Politoed, Quagsire, Qwilfish, Kingdra, Lanturn, Azumarill, Remoraid, Politoed, Corosola and Mantine.
Unlikeprevious events, the Water Festival does not promise any bonuses, double XP, more candy, etc. However, the event does allow players to purchase new avatar wardrobe items with Pokecoins, like a Magikarp hat. The Water Festival started March 22 and will run through March 29.
Pokemon Go uses events to keep up the popularity
Niantic has used special events previously to lure more players and elevate the experience for players, like ghost Pokemon during Halloween, free egg incubators for Christmas and double candy for Valentine’s Day.
Players who have not yet downloaded the game can get it free from the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store. By now, the game has been downloaded over 650 million times. In a recent speech during the Mobile World Congress, Niantic CEO John Hanke said the game had inspired more than 500 million visits to sponsored in-game Pokestops such as Sprint Stores and Starbucks restaurants.