The CEO of Niantic showed a snippet of a special pair of glasses on Twitter. Pokémon GO has long been working on merging reality with gameplay – an AR headset wouldn’t be surprising. MeinMMO wants to know: Would that be something for you?
This was shown: Via Twitter, John Hanke, the CEO of Pokémon GO developer Niantic, displayed a picture that showed a pair of glasses. Only a small section of the glasses is visible, but the frame resembles gadgets like Google Glass.
“It’s exciting to see the progress we’re making to enable new types of devices that use our platform…”, writes Hanke. That it could be an AR headset is likely and wouldn’t be surprising either.
After all, Niantic has long been working with games like Ingress, Wizards Unite, and of course Pokémon GO to create platforms that blur the lines between reality and virtual experiences. Having its own glasses could help with that.
What could Pokémon GO look like on glasses?
How the connection between Pokémon GO and special glasses could look was already demonstrated by John Hanke himself. However, it was done based on a VR demo with the HoloLens:
In the video, John Hanke showed a kind of multiplayer Pokémon GO that merged the virtual world even more strongly with the real one. You see the CEO in a park, surrounded by free-roaming creatures. Hanke performs some actions that you also know from the usual game. He feeds his creatures with berries, and in the end, even a battle seems to be imminent.
The scenes looked quite similar to what John Hanke hinted at back in 2017, when he spoke about the future of Pokémon GO. Back then, he emphasized, with a view on AR glasses, that game designers could create “incredible experiences” for such gadgets. However, he also pointed out that the price of such devices is still too high overall. It wouldn’t be surprising if Niantic took on the problem itself.
We at MeinMMO want to know: Would Pokémon GO on the AR glasses be something for you? Participate in our survey!
So much augmented reality is already in Pokémon GO
The basic principle of Pokémon GO is based on the real world: You stroll through your neighborhood, parks, and streets to spin PokéStops, battle arenas, and, above all, capture monsters. However, in the past, Niantic has started to deepen this principle further. Already in June 2020, the developers announced:
While we experiment with new gaming formats for mobile devices and AR glasses, we are advancing real-world gaming. Currently, over ten new games are in development – including prototypes for wearable AR devices that offer unique and innovative gameplay focused on exploration, outdoor movement, and social interaction.
via Nianticlabs (June 2020)
That progress is being made here has already been noticed by players in Pokémon GO. Since October 2020, players are supposed to perform AR mapping, which simply means: players should open the phone’s camera, walk around, and film PokéStops. Thus, video data is collected for the points that are already located on the map of Pokémon GO.
In Pokémon GO itself, players can now snap pictures of their buddy Pokémon in their living rooms if needed, or pose for group photos with friends in Pokémon. However, you still have to hold the phone’s camera in your hand and observe the world through the screen. With glasses, on the other hand, the display – theoretically – could merge with the field of vision.
How would you feel about an AR glasses version of Pokémon GO? Let us know in the comments!
