Alolan Pokemon from Sun & Moon will be added to Pokemon Go on March 1.
The Pokemon Company held its first Pokemon Presents of the year earlier today, announcing a brand new generation of Pokemon games, updates for Unite and Arceus, and a new item in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl that lets players officially capture Shaymin. Alongside some of those big announcements was a treat for Pokemon Go players - Alolan Pokemon are coming to Pokemon Go on March 1.
The news was announced as one of the first big reveals during the latest Pokemon Presents, with chief operating officer of the Pokemon Company Takato Utsunomita teasing the new Pokemon through a short cinematic trailer.
The trailer shows a beach before slowly revealing that the three Alolan starters have clearly been there. You've got some signed grass as a reference to Litten, a sandcastle with a feather poking out of it as a clear sign of Rowlett, and bubbles across the sand as a nod to Popplio.
It's not clear whether the update in March will only bring the three Alolan starters, but it seems more likely that we'll see more of Sun & Moon's roster added. Interestingly, this isn't the first time that Pokemon from Alola have been represented in Pokemon Go, with Alolan variants of popular Pokemon already debuting over the past few years, such as Alolan Meowth, Alolan Rattata, and Alolan Eggxecutor. In fact, almost all of the Alolan variants already exist within Pokemon Go, so it seems more likely that this update will be bringing in some of the Pokemon introduced within Sun & Moon, rather than just featuring more variants.
Nothing else has been announced regarding the Alolan update, but it's interesting to note that it was left out of the Pokemon Go roadmap that was released by Niantic just a few days ago. It did hint that there would be some surprises along the way, which now seems like a cheeky wink to the camera.