Niantic Continues to Innovate in Pokémon Go, Using Its Flagship to Showcase What’s Possible
Niantic has established itself as the leader in the augmented reality (AR) space with the success of Pokémon Go. However, the company has not been idle and has continued to explore new innovations both within and outside the game. In its latest move, Niantic is utilizing Pokémon Go to demonstrate the potential of AR to its massive audience.
A New Feature: Routes
One of the latest additions to Pokémon Go is a feature called Routes, which can be considered a form of user-generated content within the game. In Routes, players can select a starting point for a walk and record their journey. These routes are then sent to Niantic for approval and, if accepted, become available for other players to follow. The goal is to collect Zygarde Cells, which are needed to obtain the rare legendary Pokémon Zygarde.
Currently, the ability to create Routes is being gradually rolled out to select players, but all players can already follow existing routes. Niantic plans to make the creation side of Routes more widely available in the future. This innovation, which encourages players to create content for each other, comes as Pokémon Go celebrates its seventh anniversary and the capture of over 600 billion Pokémon. If Routes prove popular, we may see similar features in Niantic’s other games.
Pokémon Go is undoubtedly Niantic’s flagship game, but it is not their only project. The company has faced uncertainties in the success of its other games, with four cancellations occurring last summer. However, Niantic still has surviving games like Pikmin Bloom, a companion game for the latest Pikmin installment on the Nintendo Switch, as well as Wol, a mixed reality game that utilizes AI, and Peridot, an AR 3D pet-taming game, both of which were released this year.
It’s also worth noting that Niantic had a Marvel AR game canceled and laid off 230 employees in June. All eyes will now be on the upcoming launch of Monster Hunter Now, as its success or failure will play a vital role in determining whether Niantic can replicate the global AR success achieved with Pokémon Go.
To strengthen its social gaming aspect, Niantic recently introduced a companion app for Pokémon Go called Campfire.