Pokemon Go Double XP Event Begins This Week

Pokemon Go developer Niantic today announced a double XP event for the popular mobile game. Starting on November 23, you will earn 2X the amount of XP and Stardust throughout your adventures.

Niantic is doing this in part to thank fans for their support of the game since its record-breaking launch in July. "It has been an incredible experience since we launched Pokemon Go a few short months ago in July. We are passionate about creating experiences that encourage exploration and promote exercise," Niantic said in a blog post. The double XP event runs until November 30.

"We are humbled that hundreds of millions of you around the world have joined us on this journey. So we would like to say thank you--and what better way to say thank you than to celebrate our community," the developer added.

The double XP event comes during Thanksgiving week, a time when some people like to talk about the things they are thankful for.

In other news about Pokemon Go, a new update came out recently for iOS and Android, but it doesn't do much. Additionally, the game has launched in eight new Middle Eastern countries and markets.

Pokemon Go is a massive, worldwide phenomenon. The free-to-play game made a reported $600 million from its microtransactions after just 90 days. As of September, the game had reached 500 million players.

You can expect more updates and features for Pokemon Go in the future, including possibly a multiplayer battle mode. Niantic recently talked about how the studio is thinking about Pokemon Go as a title along the lines of an MMO like World of Warcraft.

"I think our lifespan and curve may be quite different from a free-to-play mobile game--it may be more in a Warcraft vein," Niantic marketing boss Mike Quigley said. "We are more an MMO than anything else. Every two weeks there's new content or bug fixes going in the game. There's key content releases we're planning."