During a difficult 2020, Niantic and Pokemon GO were forced to constantly evolve and adapt. This has caused the game to go in a slightly different direction, offering new types of events and challenges and an increase to the level cap. These methods look to be continuing into 2021 too, as a post on the game's official blog has confirmed a potential new feature and a competition for players to get involved in.

Niantic has confirmed that during the upcoming Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto event, NPC trainers will be appearing on the in-game map. These trainers will act like those in the mainline series and will be ready for battle. That's where Niantic's competition comes in. Players have the chance to get their own character as one of the game's new NPC's.

To earn the privilege of becoming a featured trainer, Niantic has laid out a competition and set of rules. The rules are as follows and must be posted to Twitter:

1. A screenshot of your Trainer profile that includes your Trainer name and shows off your avatar’s outfit. 2. A list of three Pokémon that would make up your team. These Pokémon must be among those originally discovered in the Kanto region and cannot include Ditto, or any Legendary or Mythical Pokémon. 3. The hashtag #PokemonGOTourContest.

Niantic says they will be judging the outfit on a range of criteria, including the creativity of avatar outfit, general theme and Pokémon team composition.

Despite a tough year for everybody, the changes Niantic has made to Pokemon GO have driven the game to new heights. With the new format for GO Fest, the addition of Mega Evolutions and an array of other changes, Pokemon GO's total revenue was propelled to over $1 billion over the course of last year.