This Ability Could Finally Come To Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go is still going strong after all these years, and a lot of that has to do with the game's constant updates. Developer Niantic routinely adds new content to help the game feel fresh. Sometimes players get new Pokemon to chase after. Other times, Pokemon Go gets some new features.

Like other live service games, Pokemon Go has a community of dataminers who stand at the ready to pore over updates. These players search through code in the hopes of discovering what Niantic has in the works. Recently, the Twitter account @poke_miners shared some info about something it found while digging around. If the data @poke_miners stumbled upon is what some believe it to be, Pokemon Go could be getting a feature that would change the world of Pokemon in a pretty significant way.

According to the leak, it appears some kind of "form changing" mechanic could be on the horizon, and the addition of such a feature would raise all sorts of questions. At the moment, there are already some Pokemon who change form depending on various factors. There are also Pokemon that can be found in multiple regions and sometimes take on different characteristics in each. Could Pokemon Go step outside the bounds of established lore and allow players to change the forms of Pokemon by other means? The @poke_miners account seems to believe the Stardust currency will be required to perform such an action.

It's also possible the "FormChangeProto" line in the leaked bit of code refers to something else entirely, and has nothing to do with changing the form of Pokemon. In that case, Niantic could have some other type of new feature planned for Pokemon Go that — at least in development — uses a similar kind of terminology. It would be sort of unusual to give Pokemon Go players this kind of power, especially if they're able to transfer those Pokemon back into some of the mainline Pokemon games. It seems like it would give Go players a distinct advantage, but then again, maybe that is the point — to draw more of them in.

At this point in time, it doesn't appear Niantic has addressed this leak, so there's no way to be positive about what it means. Players shouldn't be surprised if this form changing business doesn't get talked about for quite a while, if at all. In the meantime, dataminers will undoubtedly keep snooping around Pokemon Go's code to see what might be coming down the pike.