Niantic Unveil Plans For a New Game After 'Pokemon GO'

By Yuri Mangahas - 09 Sep '16 13:13PM

After the success of "Pokemon GO" and its similarly-oriented sister game, "Ingress," Niantic is gearing up to develop more games which will be built using the same dynamic found in the aforementioned mobile apps.

During an interview with the gaming magazine Game Informer, Niantic CEO John Hanke shared that it has always been their goal to develop a platform utilizing the same structure and flow used for their other games.

"It's always been our strategy to build up a platform underneath a game that can be used for other games, and frankly other experiences that may not exactly be games, but are still within that area of exercise, discovery, and social interaction."

He also mused that there are already projects on the plate which are about to enter the initial phase of development.

"The Niantic platform is very much a part of our long-term vision and we have some projects that are in the early stages now that will be built on top of it so you can definitely expect to see that from us in the future," said Hanke.

For starters, "Pokemon GO" exploits Augmented Reality in a bid to allow the player to capture critters known as Pokemon in the real world. It has become a huge hit, grabbing profit amounting to almost $400 million. On the other hand, "Ingress" is a unique game built around the concept of capturing actual landmarks as "bases." Most of the geographical information used by "Pokemon GO" came from various inputs by "Ingress" players.

Hanke was also asked regarding competition, to which he replied, "I think it's healthy. There is definitely room for multiple successful games in the category. I think it is a really fresh area for game designers, developers, and publishers to explore with new kinds of gameplay. It's an area where there can still be a ton of innovation. It's a positive step for everyone to bring games out into the real word and give people the motivation, the excuse, to get out, get some exercise, see new places, and hopefully have good healthy interactions with other human beings."

As of writing, "Pokemon GO" is bound to unload its biggest update yet, with the inclusion of the Buddy System, a new feature which will see the player walking side by side with a Pokémon.