Pokémon battle royale in MLB ballparks

Article posted by Coliseum, February 24^th, 2025

Image: PokemonGOApp on X

Pokémon GO (mobile game) developer Niantic and the Major League Baseball (MLB) has announced collaboration for all players of the mobile game that plan on attending some games throughout the 2025 season.

‘ESPN’ stated that as a result of the above partnership all of the league’s ballparks will feature the club-branded Gyms (in the Pokémon games the Gyms are places where the trainers can battle each other’s Pokémon) and PokéStops (locations where one can collect items like Poké Balls, eggs and potions) accessible from the entire stadium. This will allow the spectators to join a Raid or battle for supremacy from the comforts of their seat while they enjoy the game below. The ballparks will also feature the official routes to follow bringing the fans to the corners they may not yet have seen.

The Pokémon GO is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game part of the Pokémon franchise developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the iOS and Android devices.

The Niantic, Inc. is an American software development company based in San Francisco. Niantic is best known for developing the augmented reality (AR) mobile games Ingress and Pokémon Go. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google.

The augmented reality (AR) is a technology that combines the real world with computer-generated content. This technology can be used for gaming, education, retail, and more.

Kyoto (Japan)-based the Nintendo Company Limited is a Japanese multinational video game company. It develops, publishes and releases both video games and video game consoles.

Minato City (Japan)-based the Pokémon Company is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the Pokémon franchise which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, films, manga (comics or graphic novels originating from Japan), home entertainment products, merchandise, and other ventures.

New York (US)-based Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada.

‘ESPN’ further stated that in addition to these features the collaboration will include a series of themed games that offer even more bonuses. The attendees will be able to buy special merchandise that features their respective clubs as well as the Pokémon GO brand and gain access to the various in-game benefits. Among these are exclusive avatar items, Raid Battles in which trainers can catch a Pokémon with a set location background and a Timed Research with rewards.

Here’s a list of the announced Pokémon GO-themed home games during the 2025 season:

Cleveland Guardians – May 9^th;
Seattle Mariners – July 2^nd;
Miami Marlins – July 18^th;
Milwaukee Brewers – July 25^th;
San Diego Padres – July 28^th;
Arizona Diamondbacks – August 10^th;
Chicago White Sox – August 11^th;
Baltimore Orioles – August 13^th;
New York Mets – August 25^th;
Boston Red Sox – August 29^th;
San Francisco Giants – August 29^th;
Minnesota Twins – August 31^st; and
Texas Rangers – September 7^th.

Niantic also stated that additional events may be added over the coming weeks.

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