Although it already has been a week filled with exciting news, it certainly doesn’t seem to stop. Thanks to redditors SirPaulchen and thw3416, we have received some juicy information about Niantic’s in-game and real life future development plans.
At a recent 5G (5th Generation Wireless Systems, more info about 5G here) Conference held in Berlin, Germany, Omar Téllez (VP Business Development, Niantic Labs) and Michael Jones (Strategic Advisor, Niantic Labs) took the floor to address implications of 5G (they seem to have spoken to that matter very little) and fortunately, they also addressed some potential upcoming features for the game.
Big event – Pokémon GO Fest 2.0.?!
According to thw3416’s notes from the conference, Niantic is planning to host a big event in Dortmund, Germany, this summer. They are expecting up to 100,000 people to that event. However, during their presentation, never did they mention that it would be for Pokémon GO, so we will have to stay in the realm of speculations for what follows.
If we allow ourselves to speculate, doesn’t a big event in the summer held by Niantic ring any bell? Pokémon GO Fest 2.0 in Europe? With an estimated 20,000 people attending Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago in the summer of 2017, 100,000 people would mean that they are certainly stepping up their game. If that is indeed the case and that the event is about Pokémon GO, let’s hope that they arrive better prepared and that they do not repeat the same mistakes as last year (for more information about this, click here).
About new features in Pokémon GO
Although the “event” portion of the presentation did not specifically mention Pokémon GO, Omar and Michael did allow themselves to address a few elements about the game.
Development of new features for the game would have only just begun! Niantic would have apparently been addressing other issues since the launch of the game due to the very large user base. If that is indeed true, we can expect a lot more features to be introduced in the game, and luckily, Omar and Michael provided attendees of the Conference with some juicy concepts that would seemingly be on the horizon.
- In-game communications. Niantic would be considering direct chats or posting boards for dedicated locations. This would align with Niantic acquiring Evertoon in 2017, a social media startup that would help Niantic build social systems to benefit the community (more information here).
- The possibility of transfering various items such as potions directly in the game or via social medias.
- Personalized Pokémon encounters and notifications. This aspect would be huge as it would mean that there could potentially be individualized spawns for each player and that these encounters could be directly related to a player’s missing Pokédex entries. Ignoring notifications for these Pokémon would result in these Pokémon becoming rarer.
- Spoofing: Omar and Michael confirmed that Niantic is doing everything it can to prevent spoofing from happening by using algorithms (vague, right?) and potentially by including provider information (where legal).
- About 5G-Location, Niantic is hoping, in the very very long term, to be able to rely on 5G locations rather than GPS in order to save battery life.
About Niantic
Omar and Michael apparently also addressed Niantic’s future as a company. It would appear that Niantic is planning to open an office in Germany and that recruitment is already under way!
Niantic is indeed currently looking for a European Community Manager as we are writing this piece. This could mean that Niantic is hoping to host more events in Germany or even Europe at large.
Parting Words
One thing is certain, we certainly are glad to see Niantic address some future elements related to the game, but also related to the company itself. Niantic opening an office in Germany certainly is promising about the future of the company, consequently the game that we all love and cherish, Pokémon GO.
Credits for the featured image of this article go to CoupleOfGaming.
