Trainers of Pokémon GO can soon look forward to a long-awaited chat feature. We at MeinMMO have taken a look at what “Campfire” is all about and spoke with Philip Marz about when this app is expected to be available for all players.
What kind of function is it about? Trainers in Pokémon GO have been wishing for an in-game chat or another way to communicate with each other for years. Such a function does not yet exist in the game, which is why players have to resort to other platforms like WhatsApp, Discord, or Facebook to make arrangements.
Especially for raiding together, but also to build friendships or exchange Pokémon, it is important to be connected. But now Niantic wants to finally remedy this and has announced a new app: Campfire.
We at MeinMMO talked to Philip Marz, Head of Regional Marketing Pokémon GO (EMEA), during the GO Fest in Berlin, and had Campfire explained to us. Everything we need to know about the new app and when it is expected to be available for everyone is summarized for you below.
Campfire – All Information about the new App from Niantic
What is Campfire? Campfire is a standalone app from Niantic, the developers of Pokémon GO, and is intended to facilitate communication between players of all Niantic games in the future.
What can Campfire do? As Niantic has already communicated on their website, Campfire is intended to cover the social component of their games in the future. It is meant to help trainers “find new people, places, and experiences in their area” and connect with local communities. The following features are planned:
- Find local communities / players nearby
- Join communities
- Add and manage Niantic friends
- Send group messages
- Send direct messages
- Display and plan joint activities
- Send signals on a map for others
With the help of these functions, you should have the opportunity to exchange messages with other players, announce raids, and share photos and locations with friends. The networking of users across all Niantic games is intended to be possible.
This is also confirmed by Philip Marz in the interview. He highlights the functionality and possibilities of Campfire as follows:
There will be both the opportunity to find communities nearby to then arrange group activities like raids together. There will also be the opportunity to exchange messages to then essentially engage in direct dialogue.
Philip Marz
In the following image, you can see initial impressions of the graphics and functionality of the Campfire app:
When can you use Campfire?
After there was a beta phase for Ingress Prime, another Niantic game, in recent months, worldwide tests in Pokémon GO are now planned. Selected groups of trainers in specific regions will have the opportunity to try out Campfire. You will find out which regions those will be on Niantic’s social channels.
When will Campfire be available for everyone? Of course, many trainers are looking forward to finally being able to chat with other players, so we asked Philip Marz this question in the interview and wanted to know when a release of Campfire is expected.
However, he could not give us an exact date. One reason for this is the feedback from the test groups, which they want to wait for in order to potentially adjust the product. He says:
The exact timing of when Campfire will be rolled out widely to the entire Pokémon GO community is not yet defined at this time. We are currently in the testing phase, of course, we are trying to implement all the experiences we are having and the feedback being shared, to provide the best possible experience.
Philip Marz
So when it will finally be possible for us to contact other trainers or search for communities nearby remains to be seen for the moment. If there are any new updates on this, you will naturally find out from us at MeinMMO.
Niantic’s Ambition for Campfire and Pokémon GO
In the interview with Philip Marz, it becomes clear that Niantic aims to cater to the different interests and ambitions of players with the release of Campfire. Above all, having a single point of contact for the various functions is, according to Marz, an advantage and significantly improves Pokémon GO. He tells us in the conversation:
Campfire will fundamentally elevate the experience of Pokémon GO to a very, very positive next level. Also, in our ambition, we say the metaverse of Niantic is something where the focus still takes place in the real world. But through these digital and, in our case, augmented reality experiences, we can present this in a much more multifaceted way.
Philip Marz
And Campfire contributes to this, where it is no longer the case that I can or must do everything separately in individual groups. And first have to figure out how to ultimately find the people in my area who share this passion? Instead, I have a product, everything is integrated, and I can access this […] very easily anytime I want and benefit from it. And if I don’t want to, that’s perfectly fine too. But I have everything really in one tool, in one app.
In doing so, Niantic wants to make Pokémon GO even broader and positively expand it through such features. According to Marz, the developers are not only looking at a product life cycle of 5 to 10 years, as is common with other mobile games, but see Pokémon GO itself as a so-called “Forever Game”:
This will also meet our ambition, and we have seen it over the past six years. Pokémon GO has continuously evolved, and while the content is naturally limited, we have the opportunity to draw on a very, very broad portfolio of features that we can use to expand the gaming experience and adapt to very individual needs. We have already seen that PvP is of course a topic, there are those who only want to catch and collect. Some others are more focused on social issues. There are those who combine both. And here we are genuinely taking the path to say we want to make Pokémon GO even broader. For us, in our ambition, it is called a Forever Game.
So the birthday is next week, and then we will be entering the seventh year. So you can tell that more than half of the regular time has already passed. Our ambition goes much further. And this also requires us to broaden our features. And that is definitely something we are doing with Campfire.
Philip Marz
How Pokémon GO will continue and whether the game will actually become a “Forever Game” as the developers envision, will show time.
How do you find the planned app to finally communicate with each other? Will you download Campfire as soon as it becomes available? Or do you find it totally uninteresting? Please feel free to share your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers about it.
By the way, Niantic is hosting a special anniversary event for the 6th birthday of Pokémon GO with cool new costumes and a Rocket weekend. We will show you all the content of the event.
