A year later in Copenhagen, the game’s 10th anniversary event celebrating all that’s good about the decade-old Niantic mobile game is here, and Steranka’s prediction has come true in more ways than one.
In anticipation of the European leg of the event, Pokémon Go flew Radio Times Gaming to Copenhagen to see the full-scale weekend shindig, both in the delightful Fælledparken in Østerbro and the wider city.
Getting to talk to Lena Cillis, developer Niantic’s Marketing Manager of Live Events in the EMEA region, we also got to learn more about how the game’s core element of community has been more important than ever the more time has gone on — and why each Go Fest is worth your time and money if the idea of next year’s should take your fancy.
What’s the deal with Pokémon Go Fest?
Because there are so many players spread across the world and fitting them all into one city would be a genuine challenge, each location-based Pokémon Go Fest is spread into three legs: 2026’s being split into in-person events in Chicago for its US leg, Tokyo for its Japan leg, and Copenhagen, Denmark, for its Europe leg.
Going to any of the three events each year essentially gives you roughly a month’s head start on what’s to come with Go Fest: Global — including in-depth Special Research, intense Raids, exclusive versions of other Pokémon, and other new additions which pop up each year, including in-person exclusives.
Being the most powerful of the original 151 Pokémon, the opportunity to catch Mewtwo, with the option to Mega Evolve them for the first time in the game as well, is a crowning fit for Go’s long-awaited 10th anniversary Fest.
What’s more, even though we’d have to wait until the final half-hour of each four-hour park session to battle Mega Mewtwo X or Y in these raids, standard raids with catchable Mewtwo as the boss were available as well throughout the day; so you could still stock up on Candy or keep farming as many raids as possible until you get the almighty Psychic Pokemon with perfect IVs or as a green-accented Shiny (if you’re the type of player who prioritises that kind of thing).
Why it’s the perfect vacation for Pokémon fans
What’s more, this year, Go Fest: Global is free for the first time as well; that means there won’t be any paywalls to participate, and any player can reap all of the big rewards it has to offer from the get-go.
So, it’s pretty understandable for any Pokémon Go player considering a future in-person Go Fest to ask themselves: "Why would I pay money to travel hundreds of miles and stay in a hotel in another country when I could just wait a few weeks to get the same rewards for free — or at least for a lot less?"
Part of that comes from what Niantic’s Lena Cillis told us about her pitch to a live event Go Fest would be: "Pokémon Go, in general, just has the beauty of bringing people together. It is such a highly accessible game, and Pokémon Go Fest, or our Pokémon Go live events, in particular, bring out all of the best aspects of the game. They really make sure to bring our community together, which is the heart of our game."
All throughout the three and a half days I spent in Copenhagen, taking part in the in-game and real-life festivities on various levels, that general theme of community together rang true the more as time went on — and actually makes the game the best it’s ever been.
Given this was in the centre of Copenhagen’s Fælledparken garden and park, it was expected that at least a few hundred would take part, but lo and behold, over 2,000 players took part in Saturday’s Super Mega Raids against Mega Mewtwo at the same time.
It’s satisfying in its own right to see the Genetic Pokemon getting undisputedly throttled in less than a minute; these Mega Mewtwo raids with a multi-thousand-player turnout were also the product of Pokemon Go’s other new mechanic: Unity Raids, where many players are required to raise their devices in unison to smash through a boss Pokemon’s protective shield and finally deliver a crushing blow.
Frankly, it felt reminiscent of the summer of 2016 when Pokémon Go first came out, arguably one of the best times in gaming history, where countless players enjoyed a game in unison.
A curated Pokémon experience
For instance, across the beautiful and varied Fælledparken, the whole humungous park and garden was split into different in-game areas with different mechanics: the Recruitment Zone in the large open main field to take on standard Raids and earn rewards, the Conservatory Zone for an increased variety of wild Pokemon, the stunning Cultivation Zone for more Pokémon-educational Special Research whilst surrounded by the many pretty flowers, and Team Rocket’s Hideout — packed with Rocket Battles and Shadow Raids to beat and catch many extra Legendaries for yourself (I got an extra Entei, Moltres, and even Primal Kyogre in this particular space).
Whether you want to hang out with the Eevee and Pikachu mascots once again (the site of another Pokemon-themed proposal, seeing the giant inflatable Pikachu, meeting one of the game’s ‘Notable Trainers’, taking part in pub-style quizzes, or even playing around in the new Lego experience tent: where you get the chance to get creative and build whatever you like, enter a competition to win one of the new Pokemon sets, or even make a free Lego Poke Ball like I did.
Nevertheless, a lot goes into each Go Fest, with the fact that ‘every year comes with a different challenge’ as Cillis also explained. Realistically, when you’re holding an annualised event in a different location each year, even when working with local communities ‘who know their city best’, you’re never going to get an iteration that’s a 10/10 in terms of park venue, city experience potential, and transport links to jump between the former two across the board.
Yet, Copenhagen’s Go Fest has come the closest so far. The extended time I got to spend in Copenhagen compared to Paris last year has also demonstrated why the European leg is the best among the three.
Why Go Fest: Europe beats the US & Japan
This is, of course, still great if you love America or Japan, and/or you’ve never had the chance to go, but Pokémon Go Fest: Europe stands out as a chance to visit a different country each year and get a fresh cultural experience each time, alongside what you’d get by playing the game.
Like with Fælledparken, the whole of Copenhagen had been split up into four in-game districts of their own — each with its own special Timed Research to earn Expert Badges and extra rewards.
And since Copenhagen is especially well interconnected as a city with its metro trains, buses, and taxis all over, getting from place to place was even more of a cinch compared to Paris.
All the while, since this was set in Pokémon Go’s in-game ‘Friendship District’, I got to complete more of the zone’s specific research in between asking tourists to take photos of me — plus catch another Team Valor Hat-Pikachu whilst at it.
Hopefully, we can convince Niantic to go with Krakow or Amsterdam for next year.
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