Since the start of the year, Pokémon Go has been adding new pocket monsters via various methods like Eggs and raids, etc. But none have spawned in the wild—something the game’s director, Michael Steranka, is well aware of.
Dot Esports asked Steranka about various parts of the game in an interview at Pokémon Go Fest, such as when we can expect to see Galar Pokémon, and touched on a recent Reddit thread that appeared in April about missing wild spawn Pokémon that Steranka was acutely aware of.
“You know, it’s funny, I did read the Reddit thread many months ago, that was talking about oh, it’s been a while since Pokémon Go‘s released a new Wild Pokémon in the game,” Sternnka told Dot Esports. “Even a couple of weeks before that post went live, it was something that we were talking about as a team at Niantic.”
Steranka added how he and his team went back and forth after seeing the post but, ultimately, felt that focusing on Wild Pokémon spawns constantly wasn’t in Niantic’s best interest.
“I think the sort of logical conclusion of building a forever franchise means that you can’t really be totally stuck on the content like that… we’re really trying to think about how can we improve the collection mechanic in Pokemon Go and add more excitement there for players,” he said.
Steranka also highlighted how that wouldn’t mean Wild Pokémon spawns wouldn’t be a thing in the future. Instead, the team was more focused on “natural opportunities” when they added Pokémon into the game, no matter what type of mechanic they chose to introduce them with.
