‘Pokémon Go’ Valentine’s Day Event Featuring Breeding Could Incentivize Players; Niantic May Increase Buddy Rewards, Discount Incense

"Pokémon Go" could celebrate a Valentine's Day event with a special feature, which is allowing Pokémon to breed. If Niantic is hesitant to make drastic system changes, it could still make a big-deal event by increasing buddy rewards and spawn rates as well as giving temporary discounts on incense.

Valentine's Day is approaching, but Niantic has not yet disclosed what the next event for the Augmented Reality game. Events are big deal to the location-based creature-catching game because past events have proven successful in reinvigorating a once-huge user base.

Recent events like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween have catapulted the mobile game back to the app charts. In between events, players have been decreasing since many have stopped playing after getting a full Pokédex.

This is why Niantic will most likely make a special Pokémon Go Valentine's Day event. There have been various speculations and wish-list thrown into the said event, with the most striking feature of enabling breeding in the game.

Breeding is an aptly-themed addition for Valentine's Day as it is more an occasion to celebrate romantic love than anything else. Moreover, Niantic has already introduced gender with male and female versions of Pikachu and Raichu. Female versions often have distinct features like a heart-shaped clipped tail different from its traditional form.

However, observers say that Niantic may unlikely allow this feature for it requires changing the game system, Forbes reported. Fans would naturally expect the Gen 2 and Legendary Pokémons to debut, but even that may come after Valentine's in another specially-created event.

Dedicated players of the AR game have demanded increased spawn rates for certain groups to be featured. This could include the pink and affable Chancey, Butterfree from the original animé that Niantic has an affinity for or the Nidoran, which is the confirmed engendered Pokémon in the original list.

Premium items like the incense could be offered with temporary discounts. Niantic has not done this before but other mobile games have done for their own premium merchandise.

Niantic may also opt to celebrate love day by increasing buddy rewards. Doubling rewards is a great incentive to keep players walking in the same way it did last Halloween. However, Pokémon Go players living in Milwaukee may have to take other routes for the recent ordinance prohibits playing the game in the Milwaukee County Parks, Venture Beat reported.