On Friday we met with representatives from Niantic’s Pokémon Go crew, who have been very excited to share two upcoming updates to the hit cell sport. They shared with us the main points of the added experiences which signify a big shift in how Pokémon Go could be performed.
The primary characteristic is named the “Pokéstop Showcase”. It is a limited-time contest hosted at Pokéstops that’s initiated by a participant towards others who personal the identical Pokémon. An instance they offered was with the inclusion of Pokémon sizes final 12 months, you could possibly have a contest for greatest Pikachu. On the finish of the competition the winner will get a medal for his or her achievement. A cool wrinkle within the contest is when you enter it, so long as it’s nonetheless open, you possibly can attempt to acquire an even bigger Pokémon and re-enter from any distance. It’s nice for individuals who’d need to enter a contest whereas touring, and one thing akin to a micro leaderboard. The representatives have advised us they’re contemplating further beauty or different rewards for contest winners sooner or later.
The representatives have been particularly excited for his or her second characteristic: Routes. Routes shall be player-created geolocated paths that gamers themselves and others can then observe. The participant will select a beginning Pokéstop location, choose the beginning path, present descriptions for the trail, give it classes equivalent to wheelchair accessible/artwork/informal, after which stroll the path they need to make. Routes could be as much as 12 miles in size. Particular Pokémon and objects shall be unique to player-made paths. Some examples of how paths might be used are to create trails of not usually walked paths, string collectively a bunch of landmarks, or create a bar hopping path. They particularly have been excited at the potential of gaining extra engagement from rural gamers who could make extra individualized neighborhood content material. Niantic will proceed enhancing upon the service with potential options like landmark pinning and human & AI developed content material moderation, not just for inappropriate phrases but in addition blocking routes via restricted areas or these meant just for trolling.
The most recent Pokémon Go updates shall be in Early Entry inside the coming weeks. We’re excited to present them a attempt within the wild and know followers of the sequence shall be too.
