Today, during a livestream held by The Pokemon Company, Pokemon Go was announced exclusively for iOS and Android, with a release date set for sometime in 2016.
Pokemon Go is an AR game where you’ll track and catch Pokemon in various locations around the world. It seems like a surprisingly neat little idea, fairly reminiscent of when Google Maps put out a service involving catching Pokemon for April Fools’ Day in 2014.
The game is being developed by Niantic, a studio made up largely of ex-Google employees, likely explaining the similarities between this and the Google Maps joke, in collaboration with The Pokemon Company. It also seemingly represents Nintendo’s first big leap into the mobile market. They’ve released mobile apps before, but none have received quite this much attention or fanfare before.
Also announced was the Pokemon Go Plus, a watch accessory that works in tandem with the game to give notifications when a Pokemon is nearby. It’s not required in order to play the game, but it definitely seems like it’ll be a fun enhancement.
This livestream is being held as part of the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise, so it’s entirely possible another game will be announced today. For those keeping score, with the upcoming release of Pokken Tournament, this brings us up to two Pokemon titles being released next year.
You can catch the game’s lovely trailer below:
Any of you planning on picking this one up when it releases? Any thoughts on Nintendo going all out with mobile? Let us know in the comments!
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