Niantic has announced that it’s planning to remodel Pokemon GO Gyms, which means the game’s Gyms will be closing soon. As part of the closure, Niantic revealed that all Pokemon currently assigned to Gyms will be returned to Pokemon GO players.

The announcement was made via Niantic’s support page, though a Niantic employee elaborated with a few additional details about the Gym closings. Reddit user NianticGeorge, who’s a verified Niantic representative, explained that Niantic isn’t yet closing the Pokemon GO Gyms, but wanted to give a heads up so players know it’s coming. NianticGeorge said:

“As we get ready to update Pokémon GO, we want to ensure that Trainers have a sufficient heads up that Gyms will soon be disabled so that they can collect their Defender bonus. We will provide updates on our social channels in advance of Gyms closing in-game.”

pokemon go gyms closing

Unfortunately, neither Niantic nor NianticGeorge provided any information on what exactly the Gym remodels will be, or how long it will take to complete. For the moment gamers are left with the knowledge that, at some point in the near future, Niantic will be returning all Pokemon currently defending Gyms back to their owners and will then conduct the remodel.

This isn’t the first time Niantic has made changes to the way Gyms work in Pokemon GO. In fact, shortly after the game launched, Niantic updated Gyms to allow players to bring a team of six Pokemon into a friendly Gym rather than just one.

A few months ago, Niantic also updated the fighting mechanics in Pokemon GO's Gyms, which helped reduce the amount of attack spam some players were able to do. These changes have focused on how gamers interact with the Gym.

From the sounds of this recent announcement from Niantic, the upcoming update should mostly be cosmetic. Granted, to Niantic the term “remodel” could also include mechanics changes, but at the moment many gamers are speculating that the changes will be primarily visual in nature.

pokemon go update careful gym pokestop placement

It’s important that Niantic continue to update and polish Pokemon GO. While the game has certainly seen a lot of success over the last year, that doesn’t mean it will be king of the mobile augmented reality game space forever. In fact, a unique but potentially game-changes competitor has already popped up. Garfield GO is looking to expand on the model Pokemon GO made famous, and it won’t be long before other games attempt to do the same.

Hopefully the upcoming Gym remodel is quick and painless and Pokemon GO players are able to once again enjoy the fullness of Pokemon GO’s offerings.

Pokemon GO is currently available for Android and iOS devices.

Source: Reddit