Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs is considering one-on-one battles, according to CEO John Hanke.
Pokemon Go may have seen a 79% decrease in its number of paying customers, however it has remained profitable for developer Niantic Labs and, according to CEO John Hanke, is likely to grow even larger through potential future updates. Speaking with TechCrunch, Hanke stated that it is “pretty likely” that Pokemon Go will be made available for Android Wear devices sometime in the future, to start.
“Our whole mission as a company is to evangelize this whole concept of playing games outside, real world games. Apple Watch we think is a great vehicle for that,” he added, complimenting also the new Apple smartwatch hardware, which includes a standalone GPS and waterproofing, among other things,” Hanke said. “As other devices come on the market – if those are Android Wear devices or if they are devices from other quadrants that are interesting for gameplay and mobility, and being active – we’ll look into supporting those, too.”
In addition to that, Hanke also stated that one-on-one battles are being considered, crediting his 10-year-old son for that idea.
“I have 10 year old son – he’s my Pokemon expert, we play together – he wants to battle his friends in Pokemon Go,” Hanke said. “Battling is something we talk a lot about. It’s probably something that will make its way onto our roadmap.”
In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic recently rolled out an update that adds “Buddy Pokemon to the game, allowing you to assign a Pokemon as a, well, buddy. That Pokemon will follow you around, acquiring candy of its type as you travel certain distances.
