'Pokemon Go' News: Google, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company Invest $30 Million to Fasttrack Mobile Phone Game to 2016 Release
Niantic, Inc. recently received a total of $30 million from Google, Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company to speed up development of its upcoming mobile game, "Pokemon Go."
The mobile phone augmented reality game, "Pokemon Go," has been announced for a 2016 release after the three companies poured in $30 million in investments to assist in the development of the much-awaited mobile game.
The investment, with an initial $20 million put upfront and a succeeding $10 million outlay upon the game's reaching certain milestones in its development, is touted to push and cement the "Pokemon" brand across multiple platforms from toys and games, all the way to television and augmented reality.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"Pokemon Go," which was announced as under development in 2013 after it was co-conceived by Nintendo's late CEO Satoru Iwata, will be a collaboration between the Pokemon Company, the search engine giant, and the Japanese gaming company, an investment venture which insular Nintendo has not been known to take part in.
The augmented reality mobile game will be free to play and allow players to catch Pokemon as well as train and battle with them in the real world based on data provided in users' mobile devices.
"Pokemon Go" is also set to leverage an optional game device resembling a watch called the "Pokemon Go Plus."
The Pokemon Go Plus wearable will employ Bluetooth to notify users about nearby Pokemon using a LED light and a light rumbling vibration. While the mobile game will be free to play, it will support microtransactions in the form of in-app purchases.
With the investment influx from Google, Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company, Niantic will be using the capital to built a bigger real-world gaming platform than it has originally planned.
The company has also announced it will be releasing additional information about the progress of "Pokemon Go" by the middle of the month, with a scheduled release for sometime in 2016.
