As companies around the world continue taking precautions to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus, more video game events are still being impacted (like the cancellation of E3 2020). Although most video game events can take place entirely online without the need for face-to-face interactions and large groups of people, that's not the case for Pokemon GO.
The mobile AR game is all about getting out and moving around in the real world and the Pokemon GO Safari Zone event draw enormous crowds to large cities for weekend-long festivities. After some careful deliberation, it seems Niantic is ready to pull the plug on its upcoming Safari Zone Events in Philadelphia and Liverpool.
This is obviously sad news for trainer who had big trips planned and had been looking forward to the events, but hopefully Niantic ends up rescheduling and offering similar events in the future after recommendations against large gatherings have been removed.
"We have made the difficult decision to postpone Pokémon GO Safari Zone events in St. Louis, MO, USA; Liverpool, UK; and Philadelphia, PA, USA. We are looking into alternate dates and will provide an update as soon as possible. Please see below for more information on each event."
Trainers who had already purchased an in-game ticket for the event can now request a refund through the app. The deadline for the Liverpool refund request is April 15 and May 6 for the Philadelphia event.
"As an added bonus for those who retain their tickets, we will activate the Safari Zone Pokémon encounters and Special Research globally during the original scheduled event hours (in your local time zone) so that you can still enjoy the event from wherever you are in the world. Only ticket holders will be able to experience this bonus event.
If you purchased a City Explorer Pass add-on your City Explorer Pass will still work as originally intended during the Safari Zone event weekend in the city of Liverpool or Philadelphia. However, if you decide to play elsewhere, you will only experience a portion of the bonuses."
For now, players may want to keep hunting down the best Unova Pokemon in the game if improving their Battle Raid rosters is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.
Source: Pokemon GO Live