Pokémon Go teases four-player parties

Pokémon Go appears to be on the verge of introducing a much-anticipated feature: the ability for players to form four-player parties and explore the game world together.

A recent teaser image shared on social media depicts the silhouettes of four in-game avatars gathered next to a gym, complete with a raid egg. This suggests that players will soon be able to team up and tackle PVE battles as a group.

The developer, Niantic, captured the excitement around this new feature with an eye emoji, a party hat emoji, and the hashtag #GoStartTheParty in their post.

Historically, Pokémon Go has not allowed players to see each other in the game world, apart from their friends list and during shared battles. The new feature implies that players will be able to spot each other’s avatars while grouped in a party, enhancing the social aspect of the game.

This gameplay mechanic is similar to features Niantic has tested in another title, Pikmin Bloom, where players can choose to make their avatars visible to others while participating in certain activities.

It will be intriguing to see how Niantic addresses the safety concerns that come with allowing players to view each other’s locations in real time as they explore together.

While there is no official announcement regarding the release date of this feature, fans are hopeful for an update soon.

The year 2023 has already seen Pokémon Go roll out several new features, including Shadow Raids, PokéStop Contests, and Routes. However, it has also been a challenging year for Niantic, which has undergone significant layoffs as it refocuses its business strategies and reduces project scopes.