We are officially three full months into 2024, and Niantic has yet to address one of the biggest flaws in Pokémon Go’s content lineup. Since the calendar swapped over, we have yet to see a new Pokémon appear in the wild.
In total, we have seen six new Pokémon, not including forms or variants, introduced to Pokémon Go over three months of events—none of which have been added through the most common method of encountering Pokémon in the game, wild spawns. Instead, we have seen basically every other means utilized, limited-time Research and special Raid Days.
Drampa has only appeared in raids outside of some Amazon Prime Gaming-locked Research, Enamorous had a single Raid Day event, and Poipole will be unavailable after June 1 when the World of Wonders Seasonal Research ends. Then you have Charcadet and Varoom being locked as Egg-only encounters, which the community always despises due to the uncertainty of hatching a Pokémon you want after putting in the work for incubation. The only new inclusion that isn’t exclusive in some way is Annihilape, which utilizes a modified version of its Scarlet and Violet evolution method that requires you to battle in a specific way with your Primeape.
And that doesn’t even touch on Dusk Form Lycanrock being a locked evolution to only certain Rockruff based on random luck. At least Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia being event-exclusive for Go Tour: Sinnoh makes sense, given how Niantic has handled previous Legendary roll-outs.
The one exception here is White-Striped Basculin, which can technically be encountered in the wild—but only if you chase it down using Routes, so even then it is locked behind another mechanic during Go Tour: Sinnoh.
The lack of regular wild encounters has players missing the first two or three years of the game, where big batches of Pokémon would be dropped in bulk, giving them a real reason to get out and chase new spawns as they appear. “I really miss the days when you see silhouettes of new Pokémon nearby like when Gen 2 dropped everyone was in a frenzy and couldn’t wait to go out and explore! Lures everywhere, it was fun to see. Nowadays the only silhouettes you will see now are costumed Pokémon,” Reddit user jpierrerico said.
Those days are long gone, as Niantic is slowly running out of Pokémon to release that aren’t special encounters like Legendaries, meaning the drip feed we have become accustomed to will continue to some extent, which could lead to more moves like skipping Galar spawns for Paldean relevancy.
“I remember one point when the crowds shifted because someone nearby had picked up a Miltank down the road. Nothing special, just a Miltank. But it was fun!” Reddit user ProbablyADitto said. “That’s what the drip release ruins: the feeling of actually going to a new region and encountering all the new native Pokémon. Nowadays it just feels like the Pokémon are the ones out on an adventure and we’re just waiting for them to come to us.”
Most of Pokémon Go’s April events will continue this trend, featuring newly available Shinies, adding Mega Heracross to Mega Raids, and the like. We could still see a change coming, but this seems more like the new norm rather than an outlier this year.
