GO Battle League coming to Pokémon GO

Pokemon GO is receiving a huge update. The GO Battle League will bring a highly requested feature to the mobile game. Niantic announced this major update over Twitter and the Pokémon GO website. This new change will bring player versus player battles slated for release in early 2020.

What is GO Battle League?

Niantic released the insanely popular mobile game Pokémon GO over three years ago. It’s still one of the top apps in mobile app stores. With this new update, Pokémon GO players will be able to battle opponents from around the globe through an online matching system and rise in the ranks of the League.

Up until now, Pokémon GO has been largely a single-player experience with some multiplayer aspects mixed in. Pokémon GO is mostly focused on catching and raising Pokémon in augmented reality. Augmented reality, or AR for short, is when you interact with the real world in a virtual environment. This is similar—but still distinctly different—from virtual reality, which is interacting entirely with a virtual world.

But weren’t there already battle available?

Niantic has already introduced limited PvP trainer battles, but this GO Battle League is a much more promising revision. GO Battle League will bring about a competitive revolution to Pokémon GO. With Pokémon Sword and Shield releasing soon, this is sure to spark interest in those who don’t have a Nintendo Switch or those who want a change of pace from the mainline Pokémon series.

How can I get prepared for Pokémon GO Battle League?

We’re still several months away from release, so if you haven’t started gathering your strongest Pokémon or even downloaded the app, now is a good time to get started. My advice? Focus on catching as many Pokémon as you can, as soon as you can. I’ll see you out on the battlefield, trainers.