Pokemon Go Fest is coming back on July

Niantic’s Pokémon Go Fest 2021 is July 17-18, has a music festival theme

Niantic said its Pokémon Go Fest 2021 will take place July 17 to July 18 as a digital-only worldwide event. And this year the spirit of the annual event will be a musical festival theme, where players will be able to choose between two different musical themes, complete with custom tracks unique to each.

The producer behind Pokémon’s iconic music, Junichi Masuda, has produced all-new tracks for Pokémon Go Fest 2021, including rock for Pikachu Rock Star fans and electro-pop song for Pikachu Pop Star fans. Last year, millions of players caught more than a billion Pokémon over the festival weekend.

The event will cost $5, a discount from last year’s ticket price of $15, and it will celebrate Pokémon Go’s 5th anniversary. During the show, players will take on the role of the show director. They will help Professor Willow and team leaders put on a concert celebration by choosing between certain Pokémon to join the festivities.

Completing the game’s Special Research will provide rewards, such as an encounter with a Mythical Pokémon. The event will see the debut of Shiny Sawk and Shiny Throh plus other Pokémon sightings in special event costumes.

The Global Challenge Arena returns this year, with themed collaborative challenges on Saturday. Player photos will be featured in the app’s Today View; players can share their photos tagged with #PokemonGOFest2021 for a chance to see their photos featured during the event.

Google Play is also the official event sponsor for Pokémon Go Fest 2021.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.