Pokémon Go finally delivers on its original promise at 10th anniversary
Nearly 2,000 players gathered in Times Square for a Mewtwo raid, realizing the vision of the 2015 trailer.
When Niantic released the first Pokémon Go trailer in 2015, it was hard to imagine how players could collaborate to catch a Pokémon like Mewtwo. But this week at the game's 10th anniversary event in New York City, Pokémon Go showed the world how it's done. Almost 2,000 players—many of them influencers—packed into Times Square on Thursday evening for a special battle. For a moment, Times Square's billboards went dark before lighting up to reveal an escaped Mewtwo Mega Evolving, a sight that mirrored the original trailer.
Although most people had never played a mobile game like Pokémon Go when it launched in 2016, the trailer made the concept clear: players were meant to go outside, and the game would guide them to wild Pokémon if they reached a specific area quickly enough. The trailer showed both a chill, solitary experience and crowds teaming up to take down powerful Pokémon. Raids hadn't been introduced yet, but Niantic clearly had plans to make legendary catches special.
Scopely, which acquired Niantic's games business last year, VP of Product Michael Steranka explained in a press release that the anniversary event was the company's way of living up to that first trailer. “When we first dreamt what Pokémon GO might become a decade ago, hosting more than a thousand people in a single, local raid battle was just a pipe dream,” Steranka wrote. “Seeing that vision become a reality in Times Square was the perfect way to celebrate 10 years of playing together with our community.”
This event was a far cry from the first in-person event in 2017 in Chicago, where thousands of players faced network overloads and software issues that Niantic took responsibility for. Steranka joined Niantic that year to help coordinate that disastrous event, and during a press briefing this week, he said he thought he “should have been fired” for how things went. “I also quickly discovered from this experience that the Pokémon Go team does not point fingers,” Steranka said. “Instead of trying to find someone to blame, everybody came together, and we spun up an offsite in Seattle to learn what went wrong and how to fix things.”
Doubling down on in-person, community-focused events has been key to Pokémon Go's growth. According to Scopely, over 800 million people have downloaded Pokémon Go since launch, and the company earned $1 billion from Go in 2025 alone. For years, Niantic struggled to replicate that success with other AR games like Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Catan: World Explorers. Pokémon Go's continued popularity is surprising given that core gameplay hasn't changed much. Scopely's games president, Ed Wu, attributes it to a greater emphasis on cultivating player communities.
“What started as an invitation to explore the world around you has become something that brings players together across cities, countries, and cultures,” Wu said in a press statement. “As we look ahead, our commitment remains unchanged: to keep evolving the game in ways that turn everyday places into opportunities for discovery and connection.”
Scopely sees Pokémon Go as a forever game due to the ever-expanding roster of monsters and the constant influx of new, younger players. With each new mainline Pokémon game, a new generation arrives. When asked about future plans, Wu didn't specify details but said Scopely is exploring how different age groups get each other into Pokémon and how gyms can foster communities.
This weekend, millions are expected to participate in the 2026 global Pokémon Go Fest, featuring more Mewtwo encounters and cooperative challenges. It will be the game's most ambitious event yet, but with new mainline Pokémon titles next year, Pokémon Go still has room to grow.
