This summer is looking legendary for all the Pokémon GO trainers after the latest announcements!

This week, Niantic, the creators behind Pokémon GO, announced a couple of pretty exciting new things coming to the app in celebration of the one year anniversary of the game’s launch.

Solstice Event

Staring June 13, 2017, Pokémon GO will be celebrating a Solstice Event which will allow trainers playing in the northern hemisphere of the world to see more fire type Pokémon (for the start of summer) while trainers playing in the southern hemisphere of the world will see more ice type Pokémon (for the start of winter). There will also be more XP given for throwing bonuses when you’re catching your little monsters. Here’s an excerpt from the announcement:

“This in-game event will feature Fire-type and Ice-type Pokémon, huge XP bonuses for throwing Poké Balls accurately, and discounted Lucky Eggs in the in-game shop.”

Collaborative gameplay

Many Pokémon fans will be excited to know that collaborative gameplay will be coming soon. The new collaborative gameplay will also close down gyms within the game temporarily. There’s no explanation on why or how this new gameplay will affect gyms, but here’s what was mentioned in the announcement:

“Soon thereafter, you can look forward to a new update focused on collaborative group gameplay features that will get you playing Pokémon GO in fun new ways. In preparation for these exciting features, we’ll be temporarily disabling Gyms for a short period of time.”

Pokémon GO Fest, Chicago

Lastly and maybe most excitingly, it was announced that there will be an in-person event held in Chicago, Illinois on July 22 at Chicago’s famous Grant Park. Details of what exactly will happen at Pokémon GO Fest are still to be determined. Tickets for the somewhat unown unknown event will go on sale on June 19. Here’s the full excerpt:

“We’re also excited to announce our first ever real-world Pokémon GO event coming your way: Pokémon GO Fest Chicago! This event will take place in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA at the beautiful Grant Park on July 22, 2017. Join us as we celebrate the Pokémon GO community with a ton of exciting festivities. Tickets and more information for Pokémon GO Fest Chicago will be available at PokemonGoLive.com/Fest on Monday, June 19 at 10:00 A.M. PDT, so make sure to mark your calendars and follow our social media channels to be notified when tickets go live! European Trainers can look forward to Pokémon GO celebrations hosted across the continent from June through September in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. We’ll be posting a complete schedule for these events very soon. Also, The Pokémon Company is organizing ‘Pikachu Outbreak,’ a Pokémon event in Yokohama, Japan, in August where they’re exploring a unique Pokémon GO experience. Stay tuned for even more details surrounding each of these events in the coming weeks.”

Interestingly, the official image from the announcement includes the region exclusive Heracross. Could Heracross, a tropic exclusive, be showing up in Chicago? Even more interestingly, the exclamation point version of Unown seems to be hovering above Heracross. However, that version of Unown is a Generation 3 Pokémon. So, could this event also be the introduction to Gen 3 Pokémon?

Personally, as someone who has played Pokémon GO every day for the last year, I am thinking that this summer event in Chicago will introduce the legendary Pokémon to the game. Earlier this year while accepting a Webby award, Niantic’s Global Marketing Lead Archit Bhargava said only this: “This summer will be legendary.” This was an obvious tease to what fans knew would be the introduction of the absent legendary Pokémon to the game.

Of course, there are a handful of other clues as well. Before Pokémon GO was even introduced, the teaser trailer showcased a crowd of people battling Mewtwo in Times Square. With the introduction of collaborative group play, an in-person event and Niantic’s “legendary summer” teases, it seems obvious that Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres and Mewtwo will likely be spawning in Chicago.

Fans seem torn about this, though, saying that it will seem like an obvious disadvantage to players all over the world who can’t travel to Chicago to catch exclusives.

Hypable is hoping to attend the event in Chicago with full coverage of what is going down!

What do you think will happen in the Chicago at the event?