Pokémon Go maker Niantic is working on a 5G-only game
Pokémon Go’s legacy on the mobile gaming world is hard to overstate, but one thing it’s definitely done is catapult its creator, Niantic, into the stratosphere.
Now, any game the developer works on is automatically worth paying attention to – hence why people are so intrigued that it’s seemingly working on a Pikmin game with Nintendo.
However, the developer is also beholden to the changing technological realities of the mobile market, and the biggest change since it first released Pokémon Go years ago is arguably the advent of 5G connectivity.
Niantic has confirmed that it’s working hard to utilise the massive boosts in speed and bandwidth that 5G can bring to its games, and has unveiled a proof of concept demo, titled Codename: Urban Legends for now.
The game looks on the surface like Niantic’s speciality, with an AR lens on your phone letting you interact with monsters and allies. However, it’s got a heavy focus on multiplayer, letting players interact with the same AR elements even as they move around, their locations consistent across everyone’s devices.
Niantic also says that 5G will allow for ten times more players to cooperate compared to before, making for potentially huge competitive and cooperative opportunities.
Of course, for now this is just a non-playable demo that may be released at some point, and the relatively sparse 5G coverage around the world will greatly limit where it could even be played. However, as a statement of intent, it’s one to pay attention to.
