In an exciting new announcement from Niantic, it was confirmed that team changes are officially coming to Pokémon GO. Starting February 26, Pokémon GO players will be given the option to purchase a special Team Medallion for 1,000 PokéCoins and use them to change teams.
“Later this month, starting at 1:00 p.m. PST on February 26, Team Change will allow Trainers to change teams once per year. Interested Trainers will be able to purchase a Team Medallion for 1,000 PokéCoins from the shop. Choose your team wisely, Trainers, as you may only purchase a Team Medallion once every 365 days. Once purchased, you can find the Team Medallion in your Bag,” Niantic explained in a new blog post.
No other bonuses are offered with the Team Medallion item outside of the ability to swap teams. For example, if a member of Team Valor now wants to join their friends on Team Instinct, they can activate the Team Medallion from their Bag and select Team Instinct from the listed team options.
Keep in mind that you’ll want to choose your new team carefully, as Team Medallions can only be used once per year. Once a Team Medallion has been used, you’ll have to wait a full 365 days past the time of use to purchase and activate another one. Other things to keep in mind include slight changes to Gym functionality, with Niantic noting:
“Any of your Pokémon that are in Gyms when you change teams will be returned with no PokéCoins earned once it’s defeated. You also can’t battle your own Pokémon, so if you return to a Gym one of your Pokémon is defending, your Pokémon will be returned to you with no PokéCoins earned.”
In addition to Team Medallions, Niantic also added GO Snapshot to Pokémon GO last week which lets you project and photograph any Pokémon you’ve caught in a real-world setting using the AR+ feature.
