Niantic will temporarily close gyms in Pokémon Go in the run-up to major update

Gyms in Pokémon Go will be temporarily closed this summer in anticipation of a major update. Developer Niantic has announced this. The game came out almost a year ago and the update is believed to coincide with the anniversary of the game’s release.

The update focuses on features in the gameplay to be able to play the game in a group, but the developer does not reveal anything about what exactly will be in the new version. The fact that this is a major update can be deduced from the temporary closure of the gyms just before the update goes live.

Before that, an in-game Solstice Event kicks off next week that will include XP bonuses for accurately throwing Poké Balls. Pokémon Go came out last summer and caused a lot of hype in the months after its release. Since players have to walk in the real world to catch Pokémon, many players took to the streets and into nature.

In addition to a lot of movement, this caused the necessary problems for players, for example in the Belgian Lillo and the Dutch Kijkduin. The mobile game Pokémon Go has 750 million downloads to date, says Niantic.