Ever since Pokemon GO came out last summer, intrepid trainers have been eager for more content to arrive for the GPS-heavy application. While Pokemon GO eventually received a large content update in the form of the second generation of pocket monsters, one thing has been missing since the very beginning: legendary Pokemon. According to Niantic CEO John Hanke, however, legendary Pokemon will finally be arriving for the application later this year.

The news comes courtesy of an interview Hanke did with Wired Germany, where the Niantic executive revealed that the long-awaited legendaries will finally make an official appearance in 2017. Hanke stated he could safely say gamers would see more of them this year, which is an admittedly vague statement. It's currently not known if this simply means an announcement for the additional creatures will come, or if a new update will truly allow trainers to go forth and catch the likes of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

Last year, several trainers managed to get their hands on the legendary Pokemon Articuno far ahead of schedule, and many were surprised to find that the files for such a Pokemon were already hidden within the application. While skeptics initially thought these legendary-owning accounts were just manipulating screenshots, it turns out that they had indeed gotten an early taste of legendary power. Niantic revoked these legendary Pokemon in the interest of fairness, meaning those players didn't even have time for a Bye, Bye, Butterfree-esque farewell for their extremely rare catches.

John Hanke has already revealed that the Pokemon GO application will get 3 more major updates in 2017, so it seems more likely than not that one of these updates will introduce these legendary Pokemon into the fold on a global scale. The studio is still working on adding features like player-versus-player combat, trading, reworking gyms, and co-operative gameplay, so it will be interesting to see where legendary Pokemon fall onto Niantic's priority list.

When do you think legendary Pokemon will finally arrive in Pokemon GO, Ranters?

Pokemon GO is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Source: Wired Germany