Believe it or not, Pokémon Go is now over four years old.
Niantic’s hit mobile game, while not quite the cultural phenomenon it was back in 2016, continues to generate millions in revenue on a monthly basis and still remains one of the most popular titles on both iOS and Android. Catching Pokémon and curating the perfect battle team while on the go will remain an addictive gameplay loop available to all for the foreseeable future, then, though some Trainers may find themselves in need of a phone upgrade in the near future if they wish to continue the quest to Catch ‘Em All.
As confirmed recently in a post over on the official Pokémon Go blog, Niantic says support for various Apple and Google mobile devices will be dropped when update 0.189 goes live in October, suggesting that players will need to “consider upgrading” if they’re affected by the changes. If you already own a more recent model, however, you’ll still need to ensure that software updates newer than Android 5, iOS 10 or iOS 11 are installed, as those too, are being left behind.
For those concerned about losing progress during the move, it’s worth remembering that all save data, including consumables and in-app purchases, are stored server-side, meaning you only need to make a note of your account details when logging in on a new device. Furthermore, while support for all of the aforementioned will officially come to an end, it may still be possible to play Pokémon Go on the ‘outdated’ hardware for the foreseeable future. In such cases, however, Niantic says it’ll be unable to offer support for technical issues.
Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the tech industry, it should come as no surprise that Pokémon Go would eventually exceed its original boundaries and require progressively superior hardware to match. It’s already difficult, after all, to accommodate the game’s ever-growing file size on older models, so players can likely expect this to become a common occurrence from now on.
In related news, a new content update for the augmented reality title recently arrived. See here for all the details.
