The mobile developer reinforces their "If it ain't broke..." philosophy.
Perhaps tempted by the fact that their latest augmented reality game, Pokemon GO, has made enough money to put several countries' GDP to shame, Niantic has announced that they intend to continue to carry the Pokemon GO and Ingress formula over to future projects.
In an interview with Game Informer, Niantic CEO John Hanke revealed that the company's long-term strategy is to develop not just games, but an identity that revolves around their particularly technological style.
"It has always been our strategy to build up a platform underneath a game that can be used for other games, and frankly other experiences that may not exactly be games, but are still within that area of exercise, discovery, and social interaction," said Hanke. "The Niantic platform is very much a part of our long-term vision, and we have some projects that are in the early stages now that will be built on top of it so you can definitely expect to see that from us in the future."
Niantic's decision to stick with this particular development isn't that surprising when you consider that the company clearly felt that they were on the cusp of something potentially special when they released Ingress and that the success of Pokemon GO helped to popularize their concept in such a way that the augmented reality concepts featured in that game are slowly being transformed into a standalone genre.
Surely, Niantic is also aware that the Pokemon license was a big contributor to their last properties success, although there's nothing stopping them from pulling a Telltale and simply farming out their engine to popular properties that are in a position to properly utilize it. Indeed, their reference to potential non-gaming projects in the pipeline would seem to support the theory that Niantic's future may very well involve helping other companies take advantage of some of the concepts that they have helped to popularize on the mobile market.
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