Story perspectives

Scopely Leads 1,000-Player Times Square Mega Mewtwo Raid

7/11/2026

Summary

Steranka Leads Raid

Scopely VP of product Michael Steranka led a raid that gathered 1,000 players in Times Square to battle Mega Mewtwo Y Thursday.
The raid was a Pokémon Go event matching 2015 trailer vision.
Scopely bought Niantic’s games business in 2025 and reported Pokémon Go earned $1 billion that year.
Over 800 million have downloaded Pokémon Go since 2016.
The 2026 Pokémon Go Fest will run Saturday and Sunday millions joining Mewtwo challenges.

Summary

Mega Mewtwo Debuts

The Times Square raid, two and a half years in development, hosted over 1,000 trainers.
A Unity Attack let all players raise phones to catch a Mega Mewtwo with a Master Ball, debuting Mega Mewtwo X/Y globally.
About 300 of the 1,500 participants lost connection because of lag, exposing network strain.
GO Fest 2026 on July 11-12 offers Special Research, a Zeraora encounter, and equal access for Australian and New Zealand trainers.

Summary

Niantic Stirs Outcry

Niantic held an influencer-only Times Square raid that gave every participant a guaranteed “Hundo” Mega Mewtwo.
A Reddit thread titled “The NYC event is the antithesis of what made Pokemon GO a phenomenon 2016” that earned 1,600 upvotes and 200 comments saw users including poster Christophisis condemn the raid as betraying the community spirit that drove the 2016 surge.
The controversy overlapped a Tokyo incident where the Shibuya Pokémon Center’s Mewtwo statue vanished, sparking speculation of a coordinated publicity stunt.

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Steranka Leads Raid

Scopely VP of product Michael Steranka led a raid that gathered 1,000 players in Times Square to battle Mega Mewtwo Y Thursday.
The raid was a Pokémon Go event matching 2015 trailer vision.
Scopely bought Niantic’s games business in 2025 and reported Pokémon Go earned $1 billion that year.
Over 800 million have downloaded Pokémon Go since 2016.
The 2026 Pokémon Go Fest will run Saturday and Sunday millions joining Mewtwo challenges.

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