As a part of Niantic's ongoing updates to its AR mobile title Pokemon GO, it has announced that May's Spotlight hours will include the Pokemon Shellder, Sunkern, Poochyena, and Bronzor. However the game will also be losing some content this month as the developers let the world know there will be no Team GO Rocket Special Research events available until "the end of September."

Though Team GO Rocket grunts appear within glitchy PokeStops across the game's real world-overlay map to players who are at least Level 8, it does not appear that the reason these evil organization members have "been quiet lately" is strictly due of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Even if it makes sense for Niantic to remove another incentive for its players to go outside given the steps it's taken to update its AR games for at-home play.

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The text of the announcement instead specifies that Professor Willow and his team are following up on leads because they "don't expect Team GO Rocket to be quiet all summer," suggesting that Pokemon GO is looking to remove the element for a period of time to hype up something in development for the end of the year. With Team Rocket's boss Giovanni already periodically making appearances in the mobile game, it should be interesting to see what Niantic comes up with to further bolster their presence.

pokemon go looming in the shadows special research quest

Though the announcement text says Professor Willow and his team hope this "is the last we'll see of Team GO Rocket," Pokemon GO players are more likely to be disappointed with their absence for the next five months or so. In March Niantic introduced a new Shadow Boost mechanic that made Shadow Pokemon owned by this organization more powerful to use if caught, and on top of that Giovanni himself has offered up Legendary Shadow Pokemon.

But that being said, the developers have been adding quite a bit into their game to help give everyone stuck at home something to do. For instance there are now Remote Raid Passes in Pokemon GO which can allow players the opportunity to catch other powerful Pokemon without visiting a gym.

Beyond the removal of Team GO Rocket and the addition of new Spotlight hours, May has also seen the beginning of the Throwback Challenge 2020 focusing on Kanto Pokemon and Research rewards. The Sinnoh Pokemon Shinx will also be available as a Research Breakthrough encounter until June 1, 2020.

Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS devices.

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Source: Pokemon GO, Niantic