Pokemon Go is an upcoming augmented reality game where players will go places in the real world to “catch” Pokemon. The Pokemon company released some new details and a trailer.
The official Pokemon Go page was recently updated with lots of information on how the game will work, but there’s still not a release date. It’s being developed by Niantic, which is the company that made an augmented reality game called Ingress. Ingress has been wildly popular for the past three years. I had the chance to interview John Hanke, the CEO of Niantic, at a recent Ingress event in Seattle. Unfortunately he was tight-lipped about game.
Just like Ingress, Pokemon Go will be played on smartphones. That interact with certain places in the environment. When you’re out in the real world, your phone will vibrate if you’re near a Pokemon. Then you can go through the app to try to catch that Pokemon. Catching the same Pokemon multiple times will allow you to evolve that Pokemon.
At one point in the game, you have to join a team. Members of the team work together to control locations called Gyms where they can leave Pokemon to defend it. Players on another team can try to take over the Gym by fighting the Pokemon who are already there.
Though we don’t have a release date, we do know that the app will be free to download with in-app purchases available.