Pokémon GO: Fans hope for mass encounter at Halloween event

The rumor mill about Pokémon GO is currently in full swing again after the developers at Niantic released an ominous teaser trailer for the upcoming Halloween event. Trainers suspect that Pokemon GO will soon be offering mass encounters of Pokemon as a new feature – but what about the rumours?

Mysterious teaser from Niantic gives fans hope

Said teaser, which the developers posted via Twitter, shows a first-person RL shot (a bit Blair Witch Project-esque) of a trainer walking through the forest with a flashlight. Suddenly a single Magikarp appeared in front of him. He turns around – and suddenly he sees a large crowd of Magikarp.

Niantic captions the teaser with the words: “Something strange is going on this Halloween. Can you guys figure out what’s going on? Keep your eyes peeled and your buddy close by…” The image also has the annotation “FILE_001025” superimposed on it, which could point to October 25, 2022 as the date.

Niantic later released another teaser via Twitter with similar content and the caption: “We’re receiving reports of strange Pokémon behavior. Beware, Trainers!”

Mass encounters with increased shiny chance incoming?

Fans are now suspecting that these teasers and the en masse appearance of Pokémon in the videos hint at the mass encounter of Pokémon with an upcoming PoGO update. Having the Knursp as an item in the second teaser could mean that we can trigger a mass encounter with a Knursp. The times mentioned in the teaser may refer to the start times of the associated Halloween event.

We already know mass encounters from Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This is an in-world event where large numbers of the same Pokémon appear in one location for a limited time. The chance that Shiny-Mon are present is significantly higher than normal Mon in the wild.

In addition, new Mon of their kind always appear when we have caught one. To what extent this will also be the case in Pokémon GO, we do not yet know. Niantic did not reveal any further details about a possible mass encounter feature in the game after the teaser. However, we think it is quite likely that the teaser should actually announce such a thing. We will know more by the end of October at the latest.