Although not strictly Pokemon GO related, and although we already reported this on Critical (our new sister site for AR/VR/crypto), we still wanted a post about this on the Hub to raise awareness and curb the panic.
Following the Techrunch disrupt AR panel, Niantic’s CTO Phil Keslin shared with Techcrunch that Niantic is working on a new AR title, but refused to share more info. The only bit of information he shared is that the new AR title is likely to feature audio cues. You can watch the entire Disrupt AR panel here:
If you’re reading this on the Hub you’re probably thinking the same thing we did: what does this mean for the future of Pokemon GO?
Take a long breath and relax. Pokemon GO is safe and honestly, this can only benefit us. Let’s see why.
About Niantic, their tech, their games and their finance
About Niantic
Niantic is a young game/tech company that produced only two games so far – Ingress and Pokemon GO. Trying to branch out is not surprising, nor is it inherently dangerous for their existing games.
It’s great to see a young company grow, especially after a smash hit like Pokemon GO. Maybe this new game will help us understand them as a company better and maybe we’ll even enjoy it more than we currently do Pokemon GO.
We don’t want to defend Niantic or insinuate any pressing from the Pokemon Company, but it must be said that it’s easier to develop your own IP than to develop under a franchise banner.
About their tech
Over the past year, we’ve seen from the APK mines that they are moving code around, mostly to a shared platform namespace, indicating that their technical platform is maturing and getting ready to support more games.
This is good, as a shared code base means that good stuff from one game can more easily flow in another game.
Hopefully, this enable Niantic to spend less time building the networking and authentication layer and more time developing actual game play features.
About their games, namely Ingress
They’ve got a history of supporting games for a long long time. Ingress came out in 2013 and is still very actively supported, with Ingress 2.0 coming out soon and live events taking place regularly.
In other words, they are still supporting a game that is played by a significantly lower number of players than Pokemon GO.
In addition to that, community engagement and communication with the Ingress player base is spectacular when compared with Pokemon GO. We are likely to see better community engagement with their own games than franchised ones.
This is good. Remember that.
About their finances
Funny you should mention that! Have we all forgotten that Pokemon GO is earning a metric ton of money each day? Niantic will not, and can not, stop supporting a game that earns so well. It’s ridiculous.
We can’t confirm, but there are likely contractual obligations towards the Pokemon franchise that ensure that they will support the game for a set amount of time. This is normal, this is how business is done.
In conclusion
Pokemon GO is safe and sound – we are not dying yet. The better part of 2017 was amazing for the game, we see no reason for that to stop. Sure, we’re in stagnation currently, but winter is coming and so is the holiday season. It’s time to put on our event hats and enjoy.
P.S. Yes, we will be covering their new game also in true Hub fashion – data mines, guides, news and leaks. It’ll probably be published on Critical, so make sure to follow it on Twitter.
