Niantic CEO Discusses Future Updates for 'Pokemon GO'

Despite losing 15 million of its player count since its July debut, "Pokemon GO" still remains as one of the biggest mobile games to date, having amassed a total of $400 million in terms of profit and revenue. However, it would seem like players are now craving for features beyond the usual grind of catching Pokemon, swinging at PokeStops, and battling under sanctioned Gym areas.

Apparently, Niantic has much more in store for the players real soon, as stated during a recent panel at TechCrunch's Disrupt event.

The company's CEO John Hanke recently revealed more details surrounding the future of "Pokemon GO," commenting their awareness of the players' woes and hopes for the game.

One of the key topics discussed is player-vs-player battles. Hanke didn't reveal as much, but he mused that this particular feature "is something we talk a lot about. It'll probably make its way onto the roadmap, but I don't have a specific date."

He was then asked regarding adding up the current Pokemon count in the game. As of writing, "GO's" roster equates to 144, with Ditto, the Legendaries Mew, Mewtwo, and the Mythical Birds Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos omitted for future release.

"We've launched the first generation of Pokémon, 150 or so. There are over 700 Pokémon in the Pokémon universe. It's always been the intent to gradually introduce more Pokémon into the experience over time. It's a natural way to keep the game fresh. Some Pokémon are highly coveted and people are going to be really excited when they show up in the game."

This is also echoed by a recent finding by Redditors. According to the game's hidden codec, there will be a future update which will add the Johto roster to "Pokemon GO."

He was also quizzed about the game's beginnings. In recollection, the roots for the game started with a simple April Fools prank released by Google years ago, prompting players to use their Google Maps to locate Pokemon across the globe.

"Once we saw that we realized we had to do this. We went to Tokyo and pitched the Pokémon Company. They were super excited. They'd been playing Ingress and they immediately got that this real-world gaming concept would fit perfectly with Pokémon. We started in, and it was in development for about two years before we launched."

But perhaps one of the most important topics discussed during the panel would be the future of "Pokemon GO," to which he shared, "If you want to predict the future, look at the past. A lot of what we're doing with Pokémon we learned through three years of work with Ingress - building up the game around the world, maturing the technology, the social aspect of it. The events for Ingress are the lifeblood of the game. I think you can expect to see things like that in Pokémon Go.

I mentioned events earlier, how much fun it is to have these events where people come together. It's like Comic-Con meets a 5K. It's an active thing. You're not just observing. You're playing as part of this big social get-together. Events will be part of our future. We're waiting for the launch craziness to subside and then we'll get to the hard work of planning. It's hard to put on an event for 10,000-plus people. But introducing new Pokémon into the world, having events where those might be showcased, those concepts go together well. You can expect to see that happening in a synchronized way."

Weeks ago, Niantic released the Pokemon GO Plus, which made the experience easier for a myriad of players. This is also in conjunction with the current "Buddy System" update for the app.