The virtual world of ‘Pokemon Go’ is already reshaping the real one

As John Hanke, VP of Niantic Labs, told the Guardian in 2014, he “wanted people to look around with fresh perspective on the places they passed by every day, looking for the unusual, the little hidden flourish or nugget of history”. The studio is already generating income this way via its previous title, Ingress, which shares the same basic concept as Pokémon Go.

The Texas man’s expertise for blending real-world maps and addictive gameplay dates back to 2004, when he joined the Google Geo team. Despite being free-to-play, with a base of players surpassing 21 million active users in the United States alone, the sales for in-app-purchases is generating plenty of revenue. The announcement was made right after launching the game in the U.S.

Hanke said that the game will see improvements to its augmented reality technology and weekly updates for the massively multiplayer online game.

In less than a week, the game has resulted in a phenomenon of mass, impromptu meetings of people, and players complaining of sore legs.

An agency representing Niantic has officially stated that Pokémon Go will not be coming to countries outside the launch territories for some time yet. Hanke’s company cut its teeth on augmented reality mobile gaming with “Ingress” before developing “Pokemon Go” for Nintendo.