The Villain Arc enters a new phase this week, with the official Pokémon Masters EX social media accounts announcing that the next Chapter in the main story's Villain Arc, the Johto Chapter, will begin this week on May 18th, at 11:00pm (PT). As Team Rocket's plots to take control of the Pasio region continue, Giovanni will also debut in a new Sygna Suit sync pair, partnered with his signature Nidoking.

The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo has announced that an update to Pokémon HOME version 2.0.0 will be available in the coming weeks. This update will allow recently released Pokémon titles, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Pokémon Shining Pearl, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, to be mutually compatible to past games Pokémon Sword, Pokémon Shield, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, and Pokémon GO.

The 2022 edition of the Pokémon GO Water Festival event has begun, and will be running through until May 20th, at 8:00 p.m. local time. In this event, Lapras wearing a scarf, Dewpider, Araquanid, the Legendary Pokémon Tapu Fini, and Shiny Binacle will all be making their Pokémon GO debuts. New Water Festival Scarf avatar items will also be available in the in-game shop during and after the event.

Niantic has announced details for the in-person Pokémon GO Fest 2022 event that will be held in two locations in Sapporo, Japan, from August 5th to August 7th. During the event dates, all Trainers in Sapporo will have access to special Pokémon GO Fest 2022 raids, including Cresselia and Darkrai in five-star raids.

Pokémon Masters EX is putting a spotlight on Sinnoh's Elite Four with the game's latest Solo Event and Spotlight Scouts. Solo Event: Sinnoh Elite Four Assemble, and associated Spotlight Scouts, will be running through until May 26th. Cabalion's Legendary Arena and the Battle Villa will both also be available until May 23rd.

After the madness of the holidays, the January-March quarter is typically much slower for consumer products, with things typically slowing down following any initial New Year's sales. But if Nintendo's taught us anything over the years, it's that it's not a typical company. Nintendo's latest quarterly investor briefing has revealed that their January-March quarter has seen a solid improvement over the previous year, with much of that improvement owing to the continued strong performance of the latest entries in the Pokémon franchise.

Pokémon UNITE's official Twitter account has announced that the Psychic-type Eeveelution, Espeon, will be joining the game's roster from May 16th, as a ranged attacker. Espeon is the second playable Eeveelution in the free-to-start title, following the addition of Sylveon to the roster last October.

Continuing Pokémon Masters EX's celebration of 40 Million Downloads, and arriving just in time for Japan's Golden Week holidays, the "weakest Pokémon" Magikarp is currently being featured in a special Daily Battle event, giving players the chance to form sync pairs with shiny Magikarp. This event is available in-game now, and will run through to May 15th, at 10:59pm (PT).

Niantic has announced details of the in-person Pokémon GO Fest 2022 event in Berlin, Germany, which will be held at the Britzer Garten, from July 1st to July 3rd. During the event dates, all Trainers in Berlin will have access to special Pokémon GO Fest 2022 raids, including Cresselia and Darkrai in five-star raids.

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield's May 2022 Season for Ranked Battles (Season 30) has begun. This season will run through until 4:59 p.m. (PDT) on May 31st.

Several events have begun in Pokémon Café ReMix with the start of the month of May.

The monthly update for Pokémon GO in May 2022 is now live in-game. These events will be running from May 1st, at 1:00 p.m. to June 1st, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7).

Niantic has announced full details of the Pokémon GO Fest 2022 that will be held on June 4th and June 5th. A Pokémon GO Fest 2022: Finale event will also be held on August 27th. Tickets for the event are available now. This year's event is all about Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokémon, which will be available to ticket holders only as a reward for completing special research.

The Mega Evolution update in Pokémon GO is now live globally. To celebrate this Mega update, the A Mega Moment event will be held from April 29th, at 10:00 a.m. local time to May 1st, at 8:00 p.m. local time.

Battle Pass 7 has gone live in Pokemon UNITE together with the update to Version 1.5.1.2 and the start of Ranked Match Season 4. Following on from the western theater theme in the previous UNITE in the Spotlight Battle Pass, this latest Battle Pass is named for the traditional Japanese Kabuki theater. The update includes a variety new player character accessories based around traditional and period Japanese clothing. Also featured are new unlockable Pokémon Holowear for Blastoise, Charizard, Eldegoss, and Trevenant. The Pokébuki Battle Pass will run through to June 12th at 7 pm (CDT).

A new version of Pokémon Masters EX, Version 2.20.0, is now available for download. This new version brings with it several new features and quality of life changes, which were previewed earlier this week in the monthly letter to players from the game's producers. Also launching together with this update are a collection of rallies and events in celebration of Pokémon Masters EX hitting Forty Million downloads, along with a Poké Fair Scout featuring Morty in his new Sygna Suit, in a sync pair with a Shiny Ho-Oh.

To celebrate Golden Week in Japan, several events have now begun in Pokémon Café ReMix. Golden Week is the name given in Japan to the week from April 29th to May 6th, where four different public holidays, Shōwa Day (昭和の日, Shōwa no Hi), Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日, Kenpō Kinenbi), Greenery Day (みどりの日, Midori no Hi), and Children's Day (子供の日, Kodomo no Hi), occur in rapid succession.

Niantic has made some updates to Mega Evolution in Pokémon GO that will make it easier and more rewarding than ever before. These changes are now live in Australia and New Zealand, and will be available globally soon. Mega Evolution is a special kind of Evolution that was first introduced in the Pokémon X and Pokémon Y video games. It temporarily changes a Pokémon's appearance and increases its strength. In Pokémon GO, Trainers use Mega Energy to Mega Evolve their Pokémon. Not all Pokémon who are able to Mega Evolve in other Pokémon titles are currently eligible to Mega Evolve in Pokémon GO.

Due to an issue affecting the chances of encountering Shiny Exeggcute during the Limited Research Day: An Egg-citing Spring Surprise event originally held on April 16th for timezones between GMT +14 to GMT +5, Pokémon GO will be holding a make-up event on April 30th, from 11am to 2pm local time, for those timezones.

The producers of Pokémon Masters EX have also revealed details on several new components to the game in their monthly message to players, along with information about a new Signa Suit for Morty and Golden Events to celebrate of 40 millions downloads of the game.