Pokémon GO has been going strong for five whole years now, managing to dominate headlines from the off when it first launched in 2016 and continuing to thrive even in the midst of a global pandemic – which, for an app that primarily wants you to go outside, is rather impressive.
But all good things must come to an end at some point, right? With new Pokémon being added to the game on a regular basis, the app's new inclusions are far outpacing the main series' new monster output, and as of right now, more than two-thirds of all existing Pokémon are present in Pokémon GO. So what happens when Niantic catches up and runs out of new additions?
Well, it turns out that this very dilemma is already being thought about, and don't worry – things aren't going to come to an end after all. Speaking to Eurogamer, Niantic's EMEA product marketing manager Philip Marz shared some info:
"...From a content standpoint, even if there's a limitation in terms of the Pokémon that are still available, there's a couple of different other initiatives we are thinking about to keep the momentum going, actually, and really pay into that mission and ambition to make Pokémon Go a forever game not only for the next five years, but maybe 10-15. Who knows, actually, but I think the record of the past five years has put us in a great position to continue that momentum."
15 years! Wow.
Director of global product marketing, Michael Sterenka, adds:
"Totally agreed on my part. Being able to work on a game like this over the past five years is a Pokémon fan's dream come true, and being able to see into the future, what we have planned and know that we've only begun to scratch the surface of what this game can be and what the vision for this game is, is something I'm personally very excited about."
While those future plans are understandably being kept under wraps for now, be safe in the knowledge that you'll more than likely still be playing Pokémon GO long after completing that Pokédex. Imagine how different the app could look in ten years' time...
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 29
More $40 skins, please.
Pokémon wearing hats!
@SeantheDon29 That's Unite you're thinking of. Not GO.
@SeantheDon29 but this is GO, not Unite XD
Seriously, I don't know how they can imagine going for another 15 years . Slow releasing shinies works for now but i can't imagine more than 6-7 years unless they add something really important to the game
@YamiYuseiSpl it'll be GO 'and' Unite in 5 years. No-one would be surprised if they moved on to releasing variations and Pokemon in dumb clothing once they've released every available Pokemon.
@Frappa @YamiYuseiSpl Apparently I can not read. lol
Though I wouldn't be surprised if Niantic tried something similar, really
Niantic has been deliberately trickle-feeding content when they realised they will run out of Pokémon to debut.
Which is why every event for the past couple years has just been adding even more hats.
I'm getting sick of it.
They also have the dilemma of what to do for certain mega evolutions, like Lucario and Mewtwo.
Mega Lucario raids would be extremely popular because the only way to obtain a Lucario otherwise is to hatch a Riolu and evolve it.
I've been a pretty active player for the first 4 years of the game but this past year I've hardly had the incentive to keep playing. Quests have been a nice way to get unreleased Legendaries/Mythicals but they are few and far too slow to rollout. I thought Megas would also retain my attention but Niantic seriously messed up the implementation. Most players have have already done what they have already wanted to in the game, whether it's completing the current Pokedex, reaching the max level 50, etc. Most people don't really care about the new generational Pokemon, that hype steeply decreased after Gen 4/5. At this point I just want my damn Kecleon to finish my Gen 3 Dex and quit the game.
Hats, bows,hats and sunglasses and more hats
I really dislike how now they go okay release 1to 3 new ones and have them everywhere for a week
Miss the days of bam here's most of GEN 2 in the wild go find them
Like there won't be hundreds of new Pokemon in the next 10-15 years. Legends: Arceus is coming out early next year and that's already adding at least a handful more that we know of already for a region we've already been too. I wouldn't be surprised if they already had half the next gen designed and being tested already too.
They could always make their own, creative new pokemon!
Like Pikachu 2, Meowth DX or Caterpie - Fighter Mode.
And with 0,000038% drop chances per 50 bucks draw, they create a lot of play time!
Being able to battle and trade with anyone, even from long distance, would be one of the best things they could do for this game.
Probably costumes like firefighter blastoise
what can't they do? improvements? for one, better missions to collect, more outfits, hairstyles, poses. the list is limitless
@raygboyd333
At this stage Niantic are only seeking to do things with immediate profitability.
One of the reason changes they've made that lets players "power up Pokéstops" was implemented so they can collect more data.
Other mechanics like mega evolution were implemented in a way to drive an increase in raid pass consumption.
There's two ideas I've had that would benefit players and Niantic alike if they were to do it:
1. Turn unused wayspots into "Pokémon Dens/Nests".
If you've played Ingress, you'll know that there are a larger number of points on interest overall, only a fraction of them are made into Pokémon Gyms and Poké Stops.
Instead of doing nothing with them in Pokémon Go, they should be a third type of interactable location, something like a spot where Pokémon will periodically appear
2. Implement an O-Power system with a new type of premium item
O-Powers in Pokémon game would let you activate bonuses like increased hatching speed or EXP gain for a limited time, by expending energy gained by walking
Pokémon Go could feature GO-Powers with similar advantages like increased candy gain, stardust gain, EXP gain, boosted capture rate, etc.
The caveat is that the energy needed to activate GO-Powers would require a premium item like a battery, that can hold a limited number of charges. The implementation would be similar to incubators, but you could also have a single infinite use battery.
GO-Power energy could be earned by walking, or by interacting with "Dens" as suggested above.
What do you think?
They've already have a basis for some with Sw/Sh with "Retangle Shinies." Though harder to differentiate in GO, they can go for alternative "Super shiny" variants.
More pikachu with hats
I quite like the game, but they could use some kind of new mechanics.
I would like to see the map updated with more features to interact with. Maybe make some items spawn in the overworked to collect that are different from the normal ones.
They could add in another evil team that works like an AI controlled 4th team. Any gym that doesn't flip teams in 48 hours would be taken by that 4th team and you could get different rewards for taking them down.
There's still plenty they could do.
yea, there are a ton of things they could do. and if AR technology reaches some kind of practical and safe point, it would really blow things up (in a good way).
Even they started with 5th anniversary add 8th Generation/Galar natives/species, but we still only have some Alolan forms with no 7th Generation/Alola species at all, so.
@RupeeClock I don't really want more stuff behind premium items but I like the den thing.
Would be fun if it was something like, you could leave berries there to lure them out, then return to them the next day and the more/better berries you leave the higher change of a shiny or high CP Pokémon you have.
Maybe they could even borrow the berry growing system from earlier Pokémon games. Plant a berry, return to it a few days later and harvest the crops. Then use those berries in dens.
I dont know how this game works, presently, but they should allow the players to join "gyms" and battle other players. Or is that a thing now?
@Ogbert
Yes exactly, little things to drive the player economy, leave berries or maybe even poffins to lure Pokémon, and dens can be used for routine activities like that.
I could totally see new generations being partially introduced in Go, since the game unfortunately is more important for the brand than the mainline games.
How about you move onto another game by then. Maybe one that's on a Nintendo console and isn't a F2P scam?
They are a few generations behind still and have yet to release all of the ones from the last few generations they have dropped. More will be added before they catch up. And if all else fails they could do a Ultra Beasts type thing and release pokemon unique to GO that only show up in the go app
There’ll always be newcomers to welcome to GO as well who need the Pokémon cycled and attainable, that’s without adding more and more gameplay features from newer entries in the series as new elements. Pokémon GO could continue forever really.
@RupeeClock
Those are the kind of ideas that would definitely take a good portion of my money, I'll be sad to let it go, but, glad to have it. I'm pretty sure if specific stops turned into dens/nest that are only activated by lures would definitely make me use more of them.
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