Pokemon Go, the smartphone Pokemon game developed by Ingress developers Nilantic in association with Nintendo and Pokemon, looks absolutely amazing- and owing to its simple but addictive concept, Pokemon’s brand power, and its great translation of the Pokemon formula to a smartphone, it already looked like it might be the next big thing in gaming.
And today, we have more reason to believe that it will be- Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, and Google has invested $20 million in Nilantic to make Pokemon Go a reality, with an addition $10 million coming later if development of the title continues as planned.
“The Pokémon Company, Google and Nintendo are incredible investors and strategic partners to help build the next chapter for Niantic,” said John Hanke, CEO, Niantic. “We will be using this capital to continue the development of Pokémon Go, to evolve and grow Ingress and its thriving global community, and to build out our real-world gaming platform.”
“Pokémon’s strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before,” said Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company. “The Pokémon Company is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation.”
“Niantic has shown the great potential of mixing geo-location technology, dynamic storytelling and innovative game design, and we’re excited to continue supporting the team on their journey,” Don Harrison, vice president, Corporate Development, Google, added.
This game will be massive- it may become the next evolution of the Pokemon franchise. If Google and Nintendo are indeed both pushing this, then this has the potential to take off and become the next gaming phenomenon, on the level of Minecraft.
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