Scopely Explore Orchestrates a Times Square Homecoming
The celebration served as a symbolic homecoming for the title, which famously featured a giant Mewtwo battle in its original announcement trailer a decade ago. According to the event organizers, the celebration was shrouded in secrecy for months, with invitations sent to community ambassadors and hints dropped through special anniversary artwork. By the time the event began, the area was plunged into a thematic darkness, with Times Square’s massive billboards broadcasting the original 2016 launch trailer before transitioning to the live raid.
The event was managed by the game’s developer—previously Niantic, though rebranded this week as Scopely Explore—which utilized community ambassadors to organize the crowd of 2,000 invited ticket-holders. As reported by Mark Van Lommel, Scopely’s director of marketing communications, the invitation-only approach was a deliberate strategy to avoid overcrowding in one of the busiest places on Earth. Attendees described a “Unity Raid” experience, a new kind of in-person raid introduced during this year’s in-person Go Fests in Chicago, Copenhagen, and Tokyo. These require those in attendance to raise their phones in the air—a mechanic that will likely be kept to such large gatherings. Participants saw their own avatars and Pokémon displayed on the surrounding digital screens as they united to defeat the raid boss.
Mega Mewtwo Y Debuts in a Global Virtual Event
The raid featured the arrival of Mega Mewtwo Y, which provided a tough challenge for the waiting crowd of thousands. Players worked together to defeat the raid boss, who flitted around the Times Square screens. After Mega Mewtwo Y was caught—in a Master Ball—the process repeated to allow players a second capture opportunity. Players on the stream stated that they had caught a guaranteed perfect IV “hundo” version, a fine reward.
For those not in New York, the developer confirmed that a special Pokémon Go Fest Global virtual event this weekend will bring the same Mega Mewtwo Y gameplay experience to all trainers, sans the Times Square screens. “Everyone around the world can play that for free this weekend,” Van Lommel says.
Kim Adams Expands the Global Ambassador Network
The anniversary underscores a period of sustained growth for the franchise. According to data provided by Scopely, more than 800 million people have played Pokémon Go over the past decade, with more than 1 trillion Pokémon caught to date. In 2024, it had more than 100 million active players, and in 2025 it generated $1 billion in revenue. The company reports that daily engagement from active players is around 45 minutes, with players having walked more than 62 billion miles hunting for PokéStops and Pokémon. Since last year, the company says, it has seen double-digit engagement growth, with daily playtime up 10 percent and real-world exploration up 29 percent.
This engagement is supported by a massive expansion of the game’s community infrastructure. Kim Adams, vice president of Game Development at Pokémon Go, stated that the company has scaled its network of vetted community ambassadors—volunteers who lead and organize local real-world gaming groups—from 50 to more than 3,000 globally in just two years. This volunteer-led model is central to the game’s strategy for maintaining its live event presence, which saw nearly 1 million tickets sold in 2024.
Howie Ragunton Evaluates Server Stability Improvements
While the Times Square event was light on long-term roadmap announcements, it did provide a glimpse into upcoming merchandise and in-game features. A special Pikachu plush toy wearing a Professor Willow costume has been confirmed and will be available via the Pokémon Center store in the near future. Players will be able to catch this costumed Pikachu in-game as well, during an upcoming event.
The event also highlighted the game’s ongoing technical evolution. Howie Ragunton, a US Federal Aviation Administration worker who has been playing the game since its release in 2016, noted that the stability of the servers during the New York gathering was a marked improvement over the first 2017 Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago, which he described as a disaster due to overloaded cell networks and unstable servers. “They’ve learned throughout the years,” Ragunton observed. As the game moves into its second decade, the livestream concluded with the message: “Here’s to the next 10 years.”
