John Hanke: Niantic wants Pokémon Go to look more like its first trailer

Remember how cool that first trailer for Pokémon Go looked? So does John Hanke. The Niantic chief executive officer was onstage with Epic Games chief executive officer Tim Sweeney for a fireside chat during Samsung Developer Conference 2018 today in Orlando, Florida. Hanke discussed the future of Niantic’s hit mobile game, which is to capture some of the ideas portrayed in its original trailer.
Pokémon Go became a sensation when it launched in 2016, drawing millions of players (and even getting mainstream news headlines) with its real-world augmented reality gameplay. Things cooled down a bit, but player numbers were at their highest this summer since that initial boon.
The game’s first trailer debuted in 2015. It showed a deeper immersion of augmented reality than Go currently has. It also showed a large group of players gathering in Time Square to fight the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo together. Hanke noted that Niantic wants to take advantage of improved technology, including deep learning, 5G networks, and better hardware to make Pokémon Go more like that first trailer, which you can watch below.
Hanke also expressed Niantic’s desire to make Pokémon Go something that is always a part of your life and not just something you play for a bit here and there. The company started this initiative this year when with the Adventure Sync feature. This has Pokémon Go synchronize with health apps that count your real life steps. In turn, this translates into progress in the game, helping you hatch Pokémon eggs faster.
Niantic’s upcoming Harry Potter AR game, Wizards Unite, did come up during the fireside chat. Hanke only said that the company is excited about the project.
Source: VentureBeat
To Read Our Daily News Updates, Please Visit Inventiva Or Subscribe Our Newsletter & Push.