Pokémon Go marks 10 years with massive Times Square Mewtwo event

Hundreds of Pokémon Go players filled Times Square to battle Mewtwo as the game marked its 10th anniversary in New York City. The three-day anniversary party ran from July 4 to July 6, 2026, and the Times Square showdown placed the franchise’s most recognizable raid boss at the center of the celebration.

Pokémon Go launched on July 6, 2016, in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, with The Pokémon Company International saying it would arrive later in Canada, Europe and South America. Built on GPS and augmented reality, it sent players into parks, plazas and city blocks, with PokéStops mapped to public art, historical markers and monuments instead of a closed virtual world.

Players could meet strangers at the same landmark, coordinate raids in real time and return to the same locations day after day, turning routine walks into a shared game loop. Google Play lists the app at more than 1 billion downloads, and it was updated on July 8, 2026.

Pokémon Go’s July 4 to July 6 anniversary party ran alongside related anniversary events and Pokémon Go Fest 2026: Global coverage. Scopely announced a $3.5 billion deal to acquire Niantic’s games business on March 12, 2025, and said it closed the acquisition on May 29, 2025. Scopely said Niantic’s games business had more than 30 million monthly active players in 2024, generated more than $1 billion in revenue that year, and that Pokémon Go alone had 100 million-plus unique players in 2024.

Niantic Wayfarer said on April 27, 2026, that AED locations would appear as PokéStops starting May 1, first at about 1,000 Tokyo locations and then expanding to roughly 13,000 AED sites nationwide by mid-July.