Pokemon GO December 26 - January 1 (2022-23): New Year's celebration, Cubchoo Spotlight Hour, and more

The final week of Pokemon GO in 2022 is finally upon us, with only a few days left until the New Year. As such, December has been a fairly eventful month for fans of Niantic's popular AR title. The community saw the debut of several new Pokemon and their variants. The very last week of 2022 will see a continuation of the ongoing Winter Holiday Part 2 before the New Year celebrations begin.

As mentioned above, December 2022 has seen exciting debuts, missions, and objectives. While it had both highs and lows, the debut of the Scatterbug family and the collection of Vivillon patterns through postcards was positively received by the community in general.

The article below lists out all of this week's major highlights in Pokemon GO for players worldwide to check out.

Check out the current Pokemon GO raid bosses that you can encounter in-game

Everything that players need to know about the upcoming week in Pokemon GO

1) Winter Holiday Part 2

Continuing with the festivities and celebrations of Part 1, the Winter Holiday Part 2 event began on Friday, December 23, 2022, at 10:00 am local time and will run until Saturday, December 31, at 8:00 pm local time. While the first part saw the debuts of Mega Glalie and Shiny Bergmite, Part 2 focused more on the debuts of different Pokemon wearing event-themed cosmetics.

During the event, players have been encountering Eevee wearing a holiday hat in the wild, which can then be evolved into any of its Eeveelutions wearing the same cosmetic. The event also marked the very first appearance of Beartic wearing a holiday ribbon.

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The Winter Holiday Part 2 event also has its own bonuses and features to incentivize Pokemon GO players. Interested readers can learn more about the occasion by checking out this article.

2) New Year's 2023 Celebrations

The New Year's 2023 celebrations will begin on Saturday, December 31, 2022, at 8:00 pm local time and will conclude on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at 8:00 pm local time. Niantic's popular AR title will introduce Pikachu with a party top hat and Noctowl with a New Year's hat to celebrate the event.

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During the event, players will be able to see festive colorful skies. The event also has its own bonus for egg hatch distances. Pokemon GO trainers can learn more about Wild Encounters, Raid schedules, and other useful information about the New Year's 2023 celebration event by checking out this article.

3) Spotlight and Raid Hour

The upcoming Spotlight Hour will be held on Tuesday, December 27, 2022, beginning at 6:00 pm local time and will remain active for one hour, until 7:00 pm local time. Cubchoo will be the featured Pokemon for this year's final Spotlight Hour, with the event also offering a 2x Catch Candy bonus.

During this week's Raid Hour, Kyurem will be appearing more frequently in five-star Raids. It's scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, from 6:00 pm local time to 7:00 pm local time.

4) GO Battle League

The GO Battle League schedule for this week in Pokemon GO is as follows:

December 22 - December 29

Ultra League
Holiday Cup: Great League Edition

December 29 - January 5

Master League (3x Stardust win rewards)
Holiday Cup: Ultra League Edition (3x Stardust win rewards)

5) Five-star and Mega Raid schedule

The ongoing five-star and Mega Raid schedule in Pokemon GO is as follows:

Kyurem (Five-star Raid Boss from December 23 to January 1)
Mega Glalie (Mega Raid Boss from December 15 to January 1)

The upcoming five-star and Mega Raid bosses will be as follows:

Reshiram (Five-star Raid Boss from January 1 to January 10)
Mega Steelix (Mega Raid Boss from January 1 to January 10)

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The January 2023 content roadmap for Pokemon GO was recently revealed by Niantic. Interested readers can learn more about it by checking out this article.

About the author

Angshuman is an Assistant Content Manager, Gaming, at Sportskeeda with a specialized focus on Pokemon. While completing his Master's degree in English Literature, Angshuman's research topics primarily included the many facets of game studies. That, along with his love for the medium which he believes to be the pinnacle of storytelling, led him to become a writer in the genre.

Angshuman prefers both solo and multiplayer titles on PC and PS5. His love for gaming stemmed from playing Bounce and God of War on mobile phones, and on to Age of Empires and Zoo Tycoon on PC. If he ever wished to convert a gaming cynic into a admirer, he would recommend indie games because of their versatility and their ability to be unaffected by genre-stifling publisher expectations.

Angshuman has interviewed several indie game developers in his career, spoken at many conferences, and contributed to book chapters. In his capacity to create highly accurate content, he thoroughly researches a topic, tracks citations until he finds the original source, and ensures his content doesn't misrepresent, misquote, or appropriate information.

In his spare time, Angshuman enjoys story writing, shooting landscapes and short films, reading, and painting.

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Edited by Atul S