Mike Quigley, the Chief Marketing Officer for Niantic, had a public interview on the stage of The Next Web (TNW, May 18-19 2017, Netherlands) conference titled: Mike Quigley (Niantic) on AR & Community Building in ‘Real World Games’.
The video coverage of the conference went live on YouTube a few days ago and this one almost went under the radar, as Quigley dropped this info during the last minute of the interview.
A member of the audience asked a question about future updates and Quigley shared the following:
Audience Question:
What is the next version going to be?
Mike Quigley’s answer:
“You know, the gym mechanic is something in Pokémon GO which we really, really want to improve, so that’s gonna be the next big area for us.
The capture mechanic is fun, but you’re a lone wolf, you’re going out there on your own. Maybe you’re with friends, but there’s not that, kind of, connected experience. We think there is an opportunity for collaboration in that area, but more to come on that.”
Other interesting things shared during the interview
- The Pokémon GO events Niantic organised in 2017 are helping them “test the waters”
- They are looking into ways to add more content and features, especially focusing on “game loops”
- Gym battles mentioned as the second core game loop, right after capturing Pokémon
- Niantic is aware of the dropoff in player numbers and engagement. They are actively working on re-engaging the dormant player base, but now they’re focused on the gym battles
- Niantic is not used to working with a “third party” and it took them time to learn how to collaborate with The Pokémon Company
- Ingress and Pokémon GO have different growth and usage patterns
- Ingress 2.0 is coming out later this year
Interview recording
About Mike Quigley
Mike Quigley is Chief Marketing Officer for Niantic. Mike oversees all aspects of marketing and communications for Niantic and its properties, including Ingress, Pokémon GO and other projects. Before joining Niantic, Mike was Director of Consumer Marketing, North America, for YouTube, where he lead all outbound marketing communications strategy and programs, including creating brand guidelines, audience development plans and promotions for major live streamed events such as the NBC Summer Olympics, Coachella, SXSW and the 2012 Presidential Elections.