When is the Pokemon GO buddy system update coming?

It’s been more than two weeks since the last Pokemon GO update, leaving many players wondering when the next one will arrive.

Pokemon GO players need more to do. That’s not a criticism of this year’s most popular mobile game, merely an observation.

Not only was Pokemon GO not a super deep gaming experience from the start, there haven’t been any content updates since it launched in July. Yes, Niantic has added a few things to the game (and taken others away), but they would qualify as quality of life improvements more than anything else.

When it comes to core gameplay, there’s finding and catching Pokemon, walking around to hatch eggs and battling for control of gyms. That’s about it.

The lack of additional content is one of the reasons people got all giddy when new code was discovered in the game that hinted at trading, VR support and more. One feature that lots of people latched onto has been nicknamed the buddy system, allowing Trainers to choose one particular pocket monster as a BFF (like Ash and his Pikachu) to walk around with them, gathering Pokemon Candy as they go.

Niantic subsequently announced Buddy Pokemon as the game’s next feature, leading many media outlets to believe it was imminent — particularly since Niantic had suggested the game would receive bi-weekly updates, and the last one came on August 24.

So what gives? It’s possible the Niantic team, which isn’t that large in terms of number of employees, is simply spread thin. The Pokemon GO Plus launches next week. Apple’s iPhone 7 event revealed that an Apple Watch version of the game is also in the works.

Or it could be that the update simply isn’t ready yet. It could drop any day, but sites like SlashGear are now predicting the buddy system update may not arrive until the end of the month.

If that happens, more people will likely fade away from the game over the next few weeks, but if there’s a significant amount of new things to do, expect them to be choosing a Buddy Pokemon and flocking back before long. Pokemon GO fever probably hasn’t been eradicated just yet.