Niantic CEO John Hanke has shared that while Pokémon GO has been designed to be accessible for newcomers, there is “an opportunity to build depth.”
The augmented reality app promises a real world adventure, in which players can discover Pokémon all around them by searching nearby locations and landmarks. Pokémon GO field tests have run in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States, with early feedback fuelling the app’s continuous development.
“We’re trying to make the game accessible to a person who doesn’t yet know how much they want to commit to the game, who just wants to explore,” Hanke explained to Polygon. “At the same time, we think that there’s an opportunity to build depth. There’s an emergent complexity that doesn’t hit you over the head at first blush, [from] trying to power up your Pokémon and evolve and ultimately start competing for gyms.”
Pokémon Go will release for iOS and Android devices in July 2016.
