What you need to know
- Niantic announced it's Small and Local Business Recovery Initiative today.
- Pokémon Go Trainers can begin submitting small and local businesses for consideration today, June 15, 2020.
- The top 1,000 businesses will be given one year free integration into Pokémon Go.
Recently Niantic announced it will be donating all proceeds from Pokémon Go Fest 2020 with a minimum of $5 million. Half of those funds are going to US based nonprofits dedicated to rebuilding communities. Today, Niantic has announced its Small and Local Business Recovery Initiative, another step to help rebuild communities in the wake of the global pandemic. Beginning today, Niantic will be taking submissions from Pokémon Go players to select 1,000 small and local businesses. Those selected will receive one year of integration into Pokémon Go, free of charge. This integration will look similar to the Sponsored Locations, giving each business access to location based tools and the ability to manage campaigns to initiate community engagement on their timeline.
The initiative is currently limited to 1,000 businesses in countries where Niantic is equipped to provide the most support: Japan, US, Canada, Mexico, and Great Britain; however, if Niantic receives significantly more applications it will consider expanding the scope of the initiative. All businesses will still need to meet the guidelines of PokéStops or Gyms, and will ideally have no more than ten employees or only a couple locations. In order to ensure the businesses who need support the most are selected and that the businesses selected come from a wide range of areas, every player will have the opportunity to nominate one business. In addition to selecting a business to nominate, players will need to include why that business is important to them and how it fits into the initiative, as well as supporting the community as a whole.
Nominations will close on July 31, 2020. Niantic hopes to begin implementing these benefits as early as September, but recognizes the need for flexibility to ensure safety in local communities.
Do you have a business in mind to nominate? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out our Complete Pokédex, as well as our Pokémon Go guides so you can be the very best like no one ever was.
