Augmented reality game Pokémon GO will soon be a year old. Developed by niantic labs, the game became immensely popular all over the world, but its fame has waned over time. Nevertheless, Niantic kept up with a steady stream of updates for the game. It is now rumored that the developers will introduce some big changes in the game this summer.

Pokémon GO to get player-versus-player support?

It is rumored that Pokémon Go may finally get the much-awaited player-versus-player battling along with the Legendary Pokémon, in a massive update scheduled to hit during the summer.

According to Niantic Labs, the much-anticipated and long-awaited features will be accompanied by something to add “more value” to a player’s team choices. This is not the first time that rumors of these heavily desired ideas were shared online. However, it will be the first time that these rumors have received confirmation of some sort.

The confirmation comes directly from the horse’s mouth. Mathieu de Fayet, an executive at Niantic, shared in an interview with Brazilian newspaper O Globo that the rumors of PvP and Legendary Pokémon coming in a new update were true. He further stated that the huge popularity and success of the game forced the developer to delay some of the planned updates. However, currently, the team is working on the new update for Pokémon GO, which is scheduled to hit this summer.

Fayet also said that the developers understood the core fact that the game can sustain itself and Niantic has been able to create social interactions among players. Currently, they are banking on this advantage by launching the PvP battle support. The introduction of Legendary Pokémon GO monsters has been in the cards for quite a while now.

Niantic previously – by mistake – had also released the Legendary bird Pokémon Articuno to a few players. However, the feature was later removed.

Pokémon GO revenue

In the interview, Fayet also shared details about the amount of revenue the game earned from partnering with other companies. For example in Japan, Niantic collaborated with McDonalds and had installed Gyms and PokéStops in several of McDonalds outlets.

Fayet said that for each visitor who is attracted to the game, the partner companies pay $0.15.

Up until this point, Pokémon GO has lured almost 500 million visitors. A McDonalds store in Japan alone attracts almost 2000 visitors a day. The developer has earned a lot from this collaboration and from the several others that it has established all over the world.