Niantic and The Pokemon Company have begun rolling out a new Battle League in Pokemon GO.

Preseason has started in the worldwide catch 'em all with Trainers able to participate in three different leagues rotating from now into March. A date for season one of the official GO Battle League will be announced at a later time.

Niantic will utilise the Battle League's preseason in order to determine matters such as ideal length of seasons, rating thresholds for ranks, and more.

Trainers will be required to walk five kilometres to gain access to GO Battle League, subsequently unlocking five online matches for players to battle, boost their rank, and earn rewards. This can be done three times a day.

Pikachu Libre

Players can encounter Pikachu Libre (a masked version of the mascot) exclusively via participation in the GO Battle League. Other rewards include large amounts of Stardust that increase depending on your rank and wins, Rare Candies and TMs as well as further exclusive Pokemon.

The GO Battle League will be made available to all users worldwide with those with the highest Trainer level gaining admittance first.

Pokemon GO has continued to go from strength to strength earning a record $894 million from player spending to cement 2019 as the game's best year to date.

Details surrounding the cloud app Pokemon Home were recently revealed, with the service due to launch in February at $15.99 a year. Integration with Pokemon GO will not be available at launch, but is due to arrive at a later date.