Pokémon Go Turns 10 With a Real Times Square Mewtwo Raid Straight Out of the Original Trailer

Pokémon Go marked its 10th anniversary on July 9 with a live broadcast and a stunt that turned a decade-old fantasy into reality — hundreds of players descended on Times Square, New York, to battle a special Mewtwo available only at the event, recreating the climactic scene from the game's original 2015 trailer almost shot for shot.

The developer, formerly Niantic and now rebranded this week as Scopely Explore, took over multiple Times Square billboards to display the raid boss, mirroring the iconic trailer moment from September 10, 2015. The event brought together Community Ambassadors hand-picked from around the world, long-time players, and several high-profile streamers who had been invited — and sworn to secrecy — in the weeks leading up to the broadcast. The livestream kicked off at 6:15pm Eastern. The special Mewtwo on offer was exclusive to in-person attendees at the Times Square event.

Pokémon Go launched in the summer of 2016 and became an instant global phenomenon, pulling millions of people into the streets to catch Pokémon in augmented reality. That original trailer — with its vision of a coordinated mass raid on Mewtwo in the middle of New York City — felt like pure fantasy at the time, but the game's decade-long community-building made exactly that kind of event possible. The anniversary also lands at a notable moment for the broader Pokémon franchise, which is celebrating 30 years, though the next mainline console entries — Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves — aren't due until 2027.

The timing ties directly into Go Fest Global, the game's big annual summer event wrapping up this weekend. Whether the broadcast included announcements about features or content coming over the next year — or further ahead — wasn't confirmed in advance, but the scale of the Times Square activation suggests Scopely Explore is treating this milestone as a major relaunch moment for the game's next chapter.