In our article on the reveal of Pokemon Go’s upcoming Go Beyond update and its promised level cap increase, we noted how Niantic refused to acknowledge some press questions while making sure to specifically say “no comment” or “no announcements at this time” for others. We included this because sometimes it’s obvious when “we have nothing to say” is actually saying a whole lot. In regard to increasing the distance for distance trades, “no comment” apparently meant “it’s coming today.”
“Surprise!” Niantic tweeted last night. “Trade range has been greatly increased until November 23 at 4 p.m. PST.” That’s 7 p.m. EST.
Reports this far are that it’s about 50km (around 30 miles) distance now, which is almost three times the previous tests’ distance. With any luck, good news about Mega Evolutions and Remote Raids will also land soon.
Speaking of good news, there’s also a spot of bad. The City Tour Spotlight Events have had to cancel the Kyoto event. While many East Asia cities are feeling safe enough to work with Niantic on getting people out and about again, but recent COVID spikes have caused the city of Kyoto to rebuff these types of events. As Japan is largely off-limits for tourism right now, the country had pushed a domestic Go To Travel initiative to help offset costs of cancelling the 2020 Olympics and keeping the economy afloat.
