Exclusive: SHINY Pikachu Coming To Pokemon GO

This morning we've been given a tip about the release of another rare Pokemon for Pokemon GO: Shiny Pikachu. This RARE Pikachu will be similar to event-centric Pikachu of the past – this time coming within the next week.* This lines up with two events, the first being the first birthday of the game itself, Pokemon GO having come to the public on July 5th, 2016.

The second event this lines up with is ACM Siggraph, a convention made largely for creators and business folks within the animation industry. While Siggraph begins on the 30th of June, it goes for several days into next month. The Siggraph event could have a lot to do with what sort of Pikachu is released – or it could have very LITTLE to do with the announcement.

CHECK IT: Pokemon GO RAID Battle Distance and Promo Codes update!*UPDATE: It would appear that the announcement event (at Siggraph) will take place in the real world but not necessarily at the same time as any in-game event. This event will feature the following creative heads from Niantic: Edward Wu, Phil Keslin, Dennis Hwang, Tatsuo Nomura. The event is called "Evolution of AR in Pokemon GO" and has to do with the following.

"Pokémon GO inspired user behaviors indicative of a successful augmented reality application such as sharing of photos with rendered characters and spontaneous real-world gatherings of thousands of people. The evolution of the technical and design choices in Niantic's products through Pokémon GO that achieved a mass-market AR application are described."

Shiny Pikachu has been in the game's code for some time. Now that the 1-year anniversary of the game is nearly upon us, it makes perfect sense that the most quintessential Pokemon of all would be delivered in one of his most rarest of forms – shiny! As it was with the Shiny Magikarp, this Pokemon will likely be very, very difficult to happen upon. When we do, it'll sparkle!

Let us know if you've seen Shiny Pikachu in the game within the next week – we'll likely get an official announcement before then. Also NOTE: as it is with all of our anonymous tips from sources close to the subject, this news is subject to last-minute change – but it'd have to be awfully last, last, last minute in this case! Stick around our @TeamPokemonGO Twitter portal for more Pokemon GO action!