Pokémon Go Gigantamax battles will let up to 40 players fight together
Huge news.
After the debut of Dynamax Pokémon in Pokémon Go last month, the game has finally confirmed the arrival of Gigantamax creatures.
The ultra-strong, giant-sized critters will debut later this month - with appropriately enormous-sized battle lobbies to take them on. For the first time ever in Pokémon Go, up to 40 players can work together to defeat a single boss in real time (the game's regular raids are capped at 20).
For those unaware, Gigantamax Pokémon originated in the Nintendo Switch games Sword and Shield. Only specific species have Gigantamax forms - many of which are fan-favourites, including the longcat-inspired Gigantamax Meowth, and a chonky Pikachu based around the franchise mascot's original design.
To celebrate the feature's arrival, here's a trailer featuring music composed by Game of Thrones' Ramin Djawadi:
Gigantamax battles will take place at Power Spots, the new in-game locations that popped up to host Dynamax battles. As expected, you'll only be able to use Dynamax Pokémon in these battles, and each fight against a Gigantamax Pokémon will require 800 Max Particles - unsurprisingly more MP than regular Dynamax fights to date.
"Gigantamax Pokémon will be some of Pokémon Go's most challenging battles yet, and you may need the help of 10 or more Trainers to succeed," Pokémon Go live ops producer Kathy Woo said in a press briefing attended by Eurogamer ahead of today's announcement. "We're really hoping communities will come together to challenge these."
Unlike Dynamax battles, Gigantamax fights will refresh multiple times a day - akin to regular raids.
Intriguingly, Niantic does not consider Gigantamax to be Tier 5 Dynamax battles, Woo told me. Instead, Gigantamax is considered "beyond" Tier 5, as Tier 5 itself is being reserved for future releases of Legendary Dynamax creatures.
The first Gigantamax Pokémon to debut will be Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard, next weekend on 26th October at 10am to 27th October at 8pm local time.
They will then be followed by Gigantamax Gengar, which will take over in time for Halloween on 31st October at 10am local time to 3rd November at 8pm local time.
All of these will be available in their Shiny forms, Niantic told Eurogamer.
As for the use of Dynamax Pokémon outside of Max Battles, something Pokémon Go players are keen to hear more on, Niantic seemed to offer something of a hopeful note.
"A lot of people have asked if Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon will have functionality in other features," Woo said. "We're very much still in the infancy of the feature and we have a whole feature roadmap planned that the team is quickly working through. The first phase is really just about making sure you can add these Pokémon to your collection, you can battle them... but we absolutely anticipate that Dynamax and Gigantamax will continue to be core features in Pokémon Go and we'll continue to invest in it... So please stay tuned for more information."
"Know that the team is considering bringing these Pokémon to other parts of the game, and raids are very much in consideration," Woo said when asked specifically if that meant raid battles.
I've been battling Dynamax Pokémon most days since they debuted in Pokémon Go, though I wrote previously that the feature still felt like it was a gameplay loop missing something of an endgame. Here's hoping Gigantamax battles offer just that.