In a surprise announcement from Niantic, we are now in a testing phase for long-ranged trading for players, playing into a long-time outcry from the Pokemon Go community
Since its initial release, players have requested one related feature from Niantic: remote trading. The ability for players who do not live in the same region to make trades would open up a huge number of new resources, and would finally let us make those Lucky Trades that many of us have been sitting on but unable to complete for so long.
In this current trial, players are being given a degree of this desire, as we actually can now perform remote trades with individuals not extremely close to us. However, current testing by the community estimates that the maximum remote trade distance is approximately 10km.
It may not be exactly what we've been asking for, but it definitely is a start. Perhaps this is a test to see if unlimited remote trade events would be viable? It's hard to say, as Niantic is notorious for making unexpected changes, but for now it seems that they are actually listening to us!
This feature will be active until November 16 at 10:00 a.m. PST, so get those trades made!
Full Announcement
Trainers,
As a limited-time test, from Thursday, November 12, 2020, at 2:30 p.m. until Monday, November 16, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. PST (GMT −8), trade range will be increased! Depending on information gathered from this test, we may include increased trade range as a part of future events.
It’s time to trade, Trainers!
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—The Pokémon GO team