'Pokémon GO' latest news: Next update to come in July 2017

Niantic CEO John Hanke recently revealed that each quarter of 2017 will bring a new major update on "Pokémon GO." The next patch will be uploaded by around July, and it will follow the first major update released in February, which introduced Generation 2 Pokémon to the game.

In an interview with Spanish publication El Periodico, which was translated by BGR, Hanke said that in the first few months following the game's launch, the publishers focused on checking if the game was running as it should. Now that the system is stable, they are now able to look into what features can be added or what expansions can be made in the game.

In the interview, Hanke mentioned four areas that they are looking into updating: overhauling the Gym Battle System, Pokémon trading, Player vs. Player (PVP) battles, and the introduction of Legendary Pokémon in the game. Niantic has yet to provide details on the order of release of these updates.

Tatsuo Nomura, the senior product manager of Niantic, provided more details about Pokémon trading. He said that this update will allow game players to swap their collected creatures when face-to-face with other players. He clarified that the game will not support internet trading because this will defeat the purpose of the game, which is to encourage physical interaction with other people. Given this sentiment, then it might also be possible that the PvP mode will allow players to battle each other face-to-face rather than online.

Meanwhile, Hanke provided details about the gym overhaul system on German publication Wired. The interview of which was featured on Heavy. He said in the interview that the update will feature "more teamwork" and offer more rewards and incentives to players who go on Gym battles. He also revealed that the first set of Legendary Pokémon that might be revealed in the updates are birds: Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos.

Meanwhile, the "Pokémon Day" event of "Pokémon GO" has ended. This small update allowed players to catch Pikachu in a party hat. The event ran from Feb. 26 to March 7.