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Niantic recently introduced the Gen 9 starters Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly into Pokemon GO. Since the popular mobile app’s massive introduction in 2016, the developer has raced to try and catch the game up to the now more than a thousand Pokemon from the main series. In its attempts to maintain relevance, however, it seems Niantic has completely abandoned the era of Gen 8 Pokemon and everything that comes with it.
Generation 8 brought the Galar region along with more than 80 new Pokemon into the series, bringing the initial total up to 890 and a whopping 905 after the generation had completed with every Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC and the unexpected hit Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
The Lack of Galar in Pokemon GO
Up until the announcement of Paldea Pokemon, Niantic’s process for adding new generations of Pokemon into Pokemon GO had always been a little all over the place. The Johto Pokemon of Generation 2 was added to the game nearly all at once, with only a handful of Legendaries being initially held back for raid battle launches. From there on, Niantic was increasingly stingy with new generations, adding in smaller and smaller batches with fewer updates to try and complete every Pokemon from a single generation before moving on to the next one. The end result is today, where only the first three generations have every Pokemon available in Pokemon GO, and every generation from four to nine has a certain number currently unavailable.
Undoubtedly, the most ignored era overall is the eighth. The starter Pokemon from Sword and Shield has yet to even be introduced into Pokemon GO despite the fact that Scarlet and Violet‘s starters have already been made available. This is the first time in the mobile game’s history that a later generation’s starter Pokemon have been introduced before the ones that came before. Many fans were understandably confused when the announcement of Gen 9’s introduction to Pokemon GO was made official since most were still expecting Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble to come first.
The reason Niantic chose to go for Paldea before Galar is surely in the name of hype. When Pokemon Sword and Shield came out, Niantic was still working on implementing the Unova Pokemon of Generation 5 into the mobile game. It was clear the developer wanted, at least initially, to add every generation of Pokemon starters in order, and thus didn’t want to add Galar’s starters when the starter Pokemon from Kalos and Alola were still absent. Flash forward to 2022, the year of Scarlet and Violet‘s release, and Niantic finally has every starter Pokemon up until Sword and Shield arrived.
Pokemon GO also suffered a lot in 2022, however, with a significant revenue drop convening with declining fan interest that many blame on Niantic diverting too much attention away from Pokemon GO and onto other apps.
The result is Niantic opted to add the most recent generation due to its fresh attention in the public sphere over the generation that had just gone out the door.
When Galar is Coming
As of writing this, the only Galar Pokemon that have been implemented into Pokemon GO are the main Legendaries, Zacian, and Zamazenta, along with a number of regional variations and their evolutions, like Obstagoon, Mr. Rime, and Runerigus. The vast majority of the nearly 100 Pokemon from Sword and Shield continue to be missing with no window of time introduced by Niantic concerning when players can expect to see any of them.
On the one hand, the slow approach to implementing new Pokemon gives Niantic a better opportunity to focus on the balance of the game. Pokemon is a series that has notoriously lacked much balance throughout its competitive history, and the constant addition of new Pokemon, moves, and even types doesn’t help much with that.
On the other hand, with many diehard players accusing Niantic of neglecting Pokemon GO altogether, the lack of significant Galar integration can be viewed as slacking rather than caution and consideration. Ultimately, Niantic needs to stop shortchanging the game that launched the developer into massive success in the first place. With the new Teal Mask DLC and the upcoming Indigo Disk bringing even more creatures into the fold, the balance of old and new Pokémon will only worsen.
