Niantic Labs CEO, John Hanke, announced that Pokemon GO will be receiving three major updates for 2017. During the Mobile World Congress conference this year, Hanke detailed the success of the app and the direction they were headed toward. His keynote speak didn’t reveal much in terms of what kind of content the updates would contain, but if the most recent one is anything to go off of – they won’t disappoint.

Indeed, Pokemon GO is still relevant and many people continue to enjoy it since its successful launch in Summer 2016. While the hype has slowed down since then, the pace is starting to change for the better. According to the Niantic Labs CEO, not only has there been over 5 million miles of Trainer movement, the game is starting to crawl its way back up to one of the Top Grossing apps for iOS.

In recent news, Niantic Labs released a huge update that introduced an additional 80 Pokemon in Version 0.57.2 for Android devices and 1.27.2 for iOS. Furthermore, the patch includes new evolutions, encounter mechanics, berries, expanded avatars and wardrobe, and more! Check out the details below:

Pokemon GO Update – Version 0.57.2 (Android) and 1.27.2 (iOS)

• Over 80 additional Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region can be caught.
• Gender-specific variations of select Pokémon can be caught.
• Added new encounter mechanics.
• Added Poké Ball and Berry selection carousels to the encounter screen.
• Added two new Berries.
• Added new avatar outfit and accessory options.
• Added new night-mode map and encounter music.
• Added bonus Candies for catching Evolved Pokémon.
• Implemented Apple Watch connection stability improvement.
• Various bug fixes.
• Minor text fixes.

In between major updates, the company attempts to keep players at bay with events and minor patches. There was a Valentine’s Day event in February that included a very tempting 6 hour effective time for lures and Candy out the yin yang. Later that month, there was an official celebration for Pokemon Day with special Pikachu appearances in the wild, donning festive party hats. How cute! Also, for those looking forward to PvP battles and monster trading possibilities, plans for the eventual implementation of both are still en route.

It’s going to be done soon. It is what it is. I’ll take the massive wave of hysteria we enjoyed, and just deal with the fact that it’s caused us to take a bit longer to get the rest of the features up,” Hanke confirmed during an interview in February. “We’re really happy to make our users happy.”

What are your thoughts on Niantic Labs CEO’s announcement? Are you still playing Pokemon GO? If not, what would make you go back? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below or begin your own conversation on Don’t Feed the Gamers Disqus channel! To stay up to date on the latest news in the gaming world, follow us on Facebook and Twitter!