On Friday we met with representatives from Niantic’s Pokémon Go team, who were very excited to share two upcoming updates to the hit mobile game. They shared with us the details of the added experiences which represent a large shift in how Pokémon Go can be played.
The first feature is called the “Pokéstop Showcase”. This is a limited-time contest hosted at Pokéstops that is initiated by a player against others who own the same Pokémon. An example they provided was with the inclusion of Pokémon sizes last year, you could have a contest for biggest Pikachu. At the end of the contest the winner gets a medal for their achievement. A cool wrinkle in the contest is once you enter it, as long as it’s still open, you can try and collect a bigger Pokémon and re-enter from any distance. It’s great for those who’d want to enter a contest while traveling, and something akin to a micro leaderboard. The representatives have told us they are considering additional cosmetic or other rewards for contest winners in the future.
The representatives were especially excited for their second feature: Routes. Routes will be player-created geolocated paths that players themselves and others can then follow. The player will choose a starting Pokéstop location, select the start path, provide descriptions for the path, give it categories such as wheelchair accessible/art/casual, and then walk the trail they want to make. Routes can be up to 12 miles in length. Special Pokémon and items will be exclusive to player-made paths. Some examples of how paths could be used are to create trails of not often walked paths, string together a bunch of landmarks, or create a bar hopping path. They especially were excited at the possibility of gaining more engagement from rural players who can make more individualized community content. Niantic will continue improving upon the service with potential features like landmark pinning and human & AI developed content moderation, not only for inappropriate phrases but also blocking routes through restricted areas or those meant only for trolling.
The latest Pokémon Go updates will be in Early Access within the coming weeks. We’re excited to give them a try in the wild and know fans of the series will be too.
