The developers of the highly popular augmented reality mobile video game "Pokémon Go" previously mentioned that they were going to be adding a bunch of new features to the game through future updates. Now, the CEO of the Pokémon Company teased in a recent interview some of the things they are planning to add to the game to make it more engaging.
The Pokémon Company CEO — Tsunekazu Ishihara — recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal and mentioned that Niantic Labs is taking its time in releasing the new features for the game. He revealed that the developers do not want to overwhelm players with the addition of multiple features at one time.
Ishihara also talked about their plans to add a player-versus-player (PVP) battle system into the game via future updates. However, the company is aware that adding this feature will make for a more challenging game that might "raise the barrier of entry for more casual users." Pokémon battles are one of the main draws for the other games that have been released in the franchise, which means that it's only a matter of time before a PVP feature is added to the augmented reality game.
Ishihara 's sentiments toward the careful application of the game's multiplayer aspect mirror that of a previous statement from Archit Bhargava — a developer from Niantic — who also talked about their progress in adding a PvP mode to "Pokémon Go." The company is still ironing out some kinks regarding how a PvP mode will be implemented in the game.
"The multiplayer aspect is still something we're exploring, we're still trying to figure out what's the best way to do that. So far we've learned that multiplayer battles are a lot of fun," said Bhargava.
Based on their statements, it may be safe to say that battle systems and other features are indeed coming out for the game. It may now be just a question of when they will be coming out, and how exactly they will be integrated without alienating the more casual players of "Pokémon Go."
