Hundreds of players gathered in New York’s Times Square on Thursday to battle a digital Mega Mewtwo Y in unison, the public face of Pokémon Go’s 10-year anniversary. More than 1,000 players took part in what publisher Scopely called one of the largest in-person raids in the game’s history, in a setting that mirrored the vision of the 2015 launch trailer. Scopely’s leaders describe the community behind a decade of raid meetups as the spine of the game, and the publisher paid $3.5bn for Niantic’s gaming business in 2025.
A Raid in Times Square Marks Ten Years
The Times Square raid was the opening move of a weekend the publisher is using to mark the 10-year milestone. “Trainers united to take down the legendary Pokémon Mega Mewtwo Y in a synchronized, real-world raid battle,” Scopely wrote in the publisher’s 10th anniversary press release with Fest 2026 details dated July 10, 2026, the day after the event. The release says more than 1,000 players took part at once. Attendees were also treated to a surprise set by the Los Angeles dance music duo Loud Luxury.
Scopely said it chose Times Square to bring to life the vision of Pokémon Go’s 2015 launch trailer. The company said the moment was streamed live and called it “one of the largest in-person raids in Pokémon GO history,” and the same release notes that Trainers have completed more than 10 billion raid battles worldwide since launch. The weekend continued with Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global, a free in-game event running from July 11 at 10:00 a.m. to July 12 at 7:00 p.m. local time.
- 1,000+ players in the Times Square raid
- 10 billion raid battles completed since launch
- 1 trillion Pokémon caught to date
- $1 billion in revenue in 2025
- 45 minutes average daily playtime
Ten Years of Footsteps Across the Real World
Pokémon Go was released in July 2016 and quickly became one of the biggest mobile game launches in history. The technology overlays digital creatures onto a live view of the real world through a smartphone’s camera. In the first weeks after launch it pulled players into parks, waterfronts, and shopping malls in search of creatures they could not see. “By allowing you to take your mobile phone out into the world to discover virtual creatures, Pokémon Go helped realise the millennial dream of becoming a Pokémon Trainer,” said Matthew Reynolds, editor of the Pokémon news website One More Catch.
A decade on, Scopely’s own tally of the player base is large enough to redraw the map. The July 10 release reports the game has reached players in 150+ countries and regions, with the average player logging 45 minutes of daily playtime, and that the same release says the game has “sustained its global phenom status as a top 10 mobile game every year since its launch.” More than 1 trillion Pokémon have been caught to date, the company puts revenue at more than $1 billion in 2025 alone, and the player count at 800 million+.
By the same measure, players have walked more than 100 billion kilometers while playing the game, “that’s 334 round trips between the Earth and the Sun,” per the release. The release counts the streak as “a top 10 mobile game every year since its launch” and puts the duration down to a mix of live events, daily play, and the slow global rollout that began in 2016.
Wedding Invites and Raid Meetups
It’s like a music festival – you could just stay at home and just listen to the music, or you could go out there and you could listen live and appreciate it with other people.
The data describes scale; the community side describes the substance. Michael Steranka, vice president of product for Pokémon Go at Scopely, said the game “will always start with community” in comments reported by the BBC. The same interview carried a detail the company does not put in its press releases. “We often receive wedding invites from players who met through Pokémon Go,” Steranka said, “because it’s been such an integral part of their relationship.”
UK content creator j0beats runs one of Twitch’s biggest channels dedicated to the game and travels to events to meet fellow players in person. “People always think it’s crazy that you travel all over just to catch some pixels,” she told the BBC, and said she was drawn to the in-person energy of the events.
In 2025, one of the game’s Wild Area events came to South Yorkshire, the only European stop on that tour. “It was the only European event and it was hosted in Doncaster, which is sort of just around the corner from me,” j0beats said. “So it was really exciting to collaborate with the community ambassadors there and help them host the event.” Her favorite Pokémon is Eevee.
The ambassador system is part of the global community infrastructure Scopely described in its July 10 release, which names “neighborhood meetups, Community Ambassador events, and major live experiences” as the structure underneath the game. Scopely says live events have been held in 60+ cities across 25+ countries, with millions of additional players visiting host cities while the events are running.
How a First Raid Meetup Turned One Player’s Life Around
For some players, the in-person meetup culture has done something the company did not market. Austin, a player from Maine, has been playing since 2017. Before he found the game, he told the BBC, motivating himself to do anything was “nearly impossible” because he was feeling anxious and depressed. “When I went to my first raid meetup it was like a warm blanket,” he said.
As he held his phone and walked to the group of strangers in the park, he saw them look at him, and for the first time he was not nervous meeting new people. “I was actually excited and happy,” he said, and added: “From that day on that little voice telling me to stay in bed was put on mute.” The BBC reports the game has hosted major live events in more than 60 countries, averaging more than 400,000 attendees a year since the first Go Fest in 2017, and Scopely’s July 10 release puts the same set of events in 60+ cities across 25+ countries, with millions of additional players visiting host cities while events are running.
Setbacks, a Sale, and a New Pitch
The game has run into two structural walls in ten years. The first came in 2020, when pandemic lockdowns removed the very thing the game sold: reasons to leave the house. “The initial strict lockdowns impacted Pokémon Go probably more than any other game out there,” Steranka told the BBC. The game later bounced back as restrictions eased and players looked for reasons to go outside.
Public safety groups once warned players not to get so engrossed in catching the next Psyduck that they got lost or put themselves in danger. Matthew Reynolds of One More Catch said the early years brought technical problems of their own, with servers that “buckled under the strain” and connectivity problems “rife for some time.” Both warnings and outages faded as the meetup culture grew up around the game.
The second wall was a corporate one. In 2025, Scopely, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, bought developer Niantic’s gaming business for $3.5bn (£2.7bn at announcement), taking control of Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now. Steranka told the BBC: “My hope is that we prove to players over time that this is definitively a good thing for the game and the community.” Scopely’s own July 10 release carries the same thread, with Ed Wu, Scopely’s president of games, saying the game has become “something that brings players together across cities, countries, and cultures.”
A Free Global Fest to Close the Anniversary
The Times Square raid was the warm-up to a free global weekend that ran from July 11 at 10:00 a.m. to July 12 at 7:00 p.m. local time. Scopely made the entire event free for any player who logged in during the window, with no paid premium ticket needed, and per the company’s July 10 release, every participant got access to exclusive Special Research leading to an encounter with the Mythical Pokémon Zeraora, increased Shiny Pokémon encounter rates, and event-specific gameplay bonuses. More than two dozen community celebrations were scheduled to run alongside the in-game event.
Those celebrations stretched across three continents. The weekend lines up with Steranka’s framing of the game as a meeting place. Ed Wu, Scopely’s president of games, said in the July 10 release that the game has become “something that brings players together across cities, countries, and cultures.” Steranka told the BBC that the game “meets people where they are, at whatever phase of life they’re in.”
- Asia: India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand
- Europe and Oceania: Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, UK
- North America: Canada; U.S. in California, Georgia, and Texas
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Pokémon Go launch?
Pokémon Go went live in July 2016, and a decade later Scopely puts the active player count at 800 million+ and the total catch count at more than 1 trillion.
Who owns Pokémon Go now?
Scopely acquired Pokémon Go when it bought Niantic’s gaming business in 2025 for $3.5bn (£2.7bn at announcement), and Scopely itself is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
How many players took part in the Times Square 10th anniversary raid?
Scopely said more than 1,000 players simultaneously battled a digital Mega Mewtwo Y, in what the company called one of the largest in-person raids in Pokémon Go history. The moment was streamed live and a surprise set by the dance music duo Loud Luxury opened the event.
What was Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global?
Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global was a free worldwide in-game event that ran from July 11 at 10:00 a.m. to July 12 at 7:00 p.m. local time, with no paid premium ticket required for any of the bonuses.
What is the Mythical Pokémon in this year’s Fest?
The Mythical Pokémon in this year’s Fest Special Research is Zeraora, and Shiny Pokémon encounter rates were increased throughout the weekend.
