Pokémon GO 10-Year Livestream Recap: Guides & Updates

Pokémon GO marked a decade on the road with a special live broadcast, and the stream delivered its big moments in real time—complete with surprises, crowd spectacle, and a very familiar face crashing the party. We walked through the announcements as they unfolded, from pre-event hints to the final showdown.

Niantic previously developed the game, but the studio rebranded this week as Scopely Explore, and it kept the livestream plans under wraps until the last possible second. Still, attentive fans had been piecing together clues for days, narrowing down what might be coming.

In the weeks leading up to today, dedicated community members traded theories about invitations sent to local Community Ambassadors for a “mystery” gathering in New York. That speculation sharpened after a 10th anniversary artwork surfaced showing Mewtwo in a setting that looks a lot like Times Square—exactly where the game’s first full trailer famously teased a massive Mewtwo battle ten years ago.

Quick facts

Pokémon GO celebrated its 10th anniversary with a special livestream.
Fans connected Community Ambassador invitations in New York to a hidden event.
The celebration centered on Mewtwo arriving in Times Square and being defeated by a large crowd.
Mewtwo Mega Evolved into Mega Mewtwo Y during the event, and players caught a second Mewtwo afterward.
Times Square screens played the game’s original 2016 trailer as the event began.
A Professor Willow-themed Pikachu plush was confirmed for the Pokémon Center store and a matching in-game event was teased.
A Pokémon GO pop-up in Times Square rotated in-game spawns and raids across the game’s years (from 2017 onward).
The stream outlined three long-term content priorities: Community, Core Memories, and Multi-Generational Play.

Mewtwo’s Times Square takeover

So what did fans expect? An enormous Mewtwo battle in Times Square seemed like the obvious choice—potentially turning the district’s many screens into a giant raid-boss display. Most people attending appeared to be in the dark about the exact plan, including several high-profile streamers who were announced as present and the hand-picked Community Ambassadors.

While the broadcast ultimately stayed focused on the Times Square spectacle, it also dropped a brief glimpse of what could be next for Pokémon GO—something future-facing fans were eager to hear about. There were hints, but not enough specifics to call it a full reveal.

Mewtwo Defeated in Times Square

The 10th anniversary celebration concluded with Mewtwo defeated in New York, with little need for guesswork at that point. The event didn’t lean heavily on future announcements, but it still underscored that the game’s current live events can deliver real impact when the scale is this large.

In other words: the franchise’s present was on full display, even if the next chapter stayed mostly off-screen. Here’s to the next ten years—at least that was the energy as the celebration wrapped.

More Than 1,000 Trainers Fight Mega Mewtwo

Mewtwo may have “arrived” in Times Square, but the actual action belonged to players: more than 1,000 trainers showed up for a huge, live-style battle. As expected, Mewtwo Mega Evolved into Mega Mewtwo Y, turning the raid into an even tougher challenge for everyone in attendance.

In the middle of the fight, the raid boss moved around the screens across Times Square, while the displays also showed participants’ avatars and Pokémon. After Mega Mewtwo Y was caught—using a Master Ball, no less—the sequence repeated so players could catch a second Mewtwo.

Players watching the stream said they received a guaranteed perfect IV “hundo” version, which landed as a satisfying reward for the effort.

📢🚨Mewtwo has arrived in Times Square!

📍: New York City, USA #PokemonGO10 pic.twitter.com/6Juv4NMgaL

Lights Out in Times Square

As the main event started for the night, Times Square’s screens went dark—then came back with a full-on Pokémon GO takeover. The location’s giant displays began playing the game’s iconic original trailer from 2016.

That trailer previewed features that took years to fully roll out, including trading, battling, and raids. And in a neat “then and now” moment, the end of that trailer was essentially recreated on the ground: Mewtwo finally showed up in Times Square to be fought by a waiting crowd of thousands.

Professor Willow Pikachu Plush Confirmed

One smaller but notable announcement landed alongside the larger spectacle: a special Pikachu plush wearing a Professor Willow costume was confirmed. It’s set to be sold through the Pokémon Center store in the near future.

On top of that, a costumed Professor Willow-style Pikachu will also appear in-game as part of an upcoming event, tying the merch moment directly to gameplay.

Pokémon Go Pop-Up Now Open in Times Square

The livestream itself was broadcast from a pop-up location in Times Square, with fans moving in as the stream went live. Inside the in-game setup, spawns and raids seemed to rotate through different eras of Pokémon GO’s life—starting with 2017 and raids like Lugia, then shifting into 2018 and raids such as Groudon.

What nobody could confirm at the time was the exact timing for the major Mewtwo raid everyone expected. The broadcast left that detail unclear, keeping the biggest moment locked behind the live schedule.

👀

📍: New York City, USA #PokemonGO10 pic.twitter.com/cVOtg3fFlM

It’s Go Time…

The livestream kicked off live from Times Square in New York. After a brief opening from host Sydnee Goodman, the show included Pokémon YouTubers like Mystic7, landoralpha, and AwesomeAdam.

Before the real gameplay began, the presenters worked through some technical issues, and then started catching spawns in the iconic location. Even early on, there was already talk about a Unity Raid happening later.

Unity Raids are the newer kind of in-person raid experience introduced during this year’s Go Fests in Chicago, Copenhagen, and Tokyo. They rely on attendees raising their phones in the air, a mechanic that seems likely to be kept for large gatherings like this.

Three Major Content Areas for Next 10 Years

At a press conference before today’s livestream—one attended by PokémonGoHub—Michael Steranka, a veteran team leader, outlined three major priorities for Pokémon GO’s second decade. The focuses were laid out as follows:

Community: emphasizing how Gyms fit into community play
Core Memories: emphasizing more ways to build strong memories while playing together
Multi-Generational Play: focusing on keeping Pokémon GO accessible across different generations

Beyond those broad categories, details on how the game will deliver on each goal stayed fairly light. One suggestion did stand out as especially interesting: the possibility that Gyms could be reworked again.

Image credits: Scopely Explore; Raimonda Kulikauskiene/Getty Images

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social