2025 has been a year of major changes for Pokemon GO, and yet another one is right around the corner. Earlier this year, Pokemon GO was acquired by Scopely, the company behind the massively successful Monopoly GO. The Scopely acquisition doesn’t seem to have triggered any major changes to Pokemon GO, but that doesn’t mean change isn’t coming.
Originally, the Pokemon GO level cap was set to 40. A little over four years after Pokemon GO launched, the level cap jumped from 40 to 50, with levels 41-50 requiring players to not only earn XP, but complete difficult challenges to level up. That’s changing with the big Pokemon GO update coming on October 15, set to revamp the leveling experience.
Pokemon GO's Level Cap is Going from 50 to 80 on October 15
The Pokemon GO level cap increase on October 15 will see the max level go from 50 all the way to 80. The increase will make it so players’ leveling journey is a little faster, and the challenges will be removed from the level 41 to 50 stretch. Instead, there will be fresh challenges to complete from levels 71 to 80. When the update goes live, some Pokemon GO players will increase in level based on how much XP they’ve already earned, but it’s been promised that no one’s level will decrease.
It’s been five years since the Pokemon GO level cap was increased from 40 to 50, and so many would argue that the game has been overdue for another level cap increase. Still, few expected such a dramatic rebalancing of the leveling system, and it will be interesting to see how fans react. Big Pokemon GO changes are sometimes met with great enthusiasm, like when raids were introduced, but other times, the changes are heavily criticized, like when the game’s graphics were “upgraded” and many fans were unhappy with how it made their avatars look.
Pokemon GO players can expect more updates for the game in the months following the level cap increase. There are still many Pokemon that have yet to make their Pokemon GO debuts, and the Generation 10 Pokemon games are expected to release within the next few years. Those titles will undoubtedly introduce even more Pokemon to the franchise, in turn creating more potential content for Pokemon GO. While it may not be as popular as it once was, Pokemon GO remains one of the biggest mobile games on the market and still has a very bright future ahead of it.