The Fate of (Monthly) Go Fest and Safari Zones

In the previous post on this blog, I detailed about my desired features from years past for Pokémon Go and how they've been realized thus far. The year before on that day, I also detailed the possibility of Pokémon Go Fest and Safari Zones - the two being practically in the same vein - of being a monthly event, since the events were becoming popular and of interest around the world. However, with the onset of the global situation, this idea has practically been crushed, with the three Safari Zone editions that were to take place earlier this year being postponed, while Pokémon Go Fest became online or virtual for a one-shot two-day soiree. It appears to be helpful to figure out the fate of these two events during these conditions and beyond them.

For the postponed Safari Zones, it has been stated that new dates for them are to be determined, but there is actually a caveat regarding this matter. If new dates cannot be determined within a 12-month timeframe, then the events are effectively cancelled. Meanwhile, after the fact, those who purchased tickets for the event should have at least received the bonus Special Research and everyone should have the capability to find the new Shiny Pokémon, provided that luck is on one's side. Given current conditions and the related developments, it seems hard to determine that there will be a time in the remaining six months or so that are left to execute the events after their postponement. Optimism ought to be at hand, but it has to be cautious as well.

For Pokémon Go Fest, the online or virtual version can be said to have been very successful, based on the data garnered from what went on during the event. I've said time and time again that it was the "edition for everyone", and it really was. Millions of Trainers caught Pokémon, battled, interacted, and walked their way through what the event had to offer (and hopefully according to other restrictions that may be in place). The way that it was conducted was effectively to appease Trainers in whatever condition is present around them, and it hugely worked, in a way. In current conditions, this would work, but after things have settled down, this might be considered "boring" to say the least. Therefore, it would have to stay unique to these conditions or be modified somehow.

As for these being monthly events, the postponed events surely had their makings of one, which would then be followed with a three-month Summer Tour not unlike last year, and then there would be more the rest of the year, before things happened. As it stands, this cannot happen until things have settled down, and perhaps by then many candidates would have advanced themselves to make a year-round series of Go Fest or Safari Zone events possible. Before that happens, a repetition of the previous virtual or online Go Fest might just be in order, perhaps as a "winter Go Fest" in line with a certain winter sports festival. It would be an even more extraordinary undertaking, but given current conditions, the possibility might not be so out of the ordinary, especially as a revenue source.

The intention to make Go Fest and Safari Zone events monthly might actually have been under consideration with the way things have went. During these conditions, holding either of them the way they used to be held is for all intents and purposes practically out of the question. But as things settle, they will likely find a way to work into the fabric of events in Pokémon Go as they have always done, and by then a monthly series of them would just be possible. These events have had to be restructured (for Go Fest, at least) due to the current conditions that the world is in, and it might be safe to say that more restructuring will be about to take place, especially if and when things recover, enough for months of Pokémon Go fun down the line for the world.

One year ago: Localized TCG (Not Quite) Taking Off
Two years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 8/11/2018 and 8/12/2018
Three years ago: Cosplay: DANOBU 4