POKEMON GO Pokemon Go took two years of development and a team up with Nintendo

The new project developed by Niantic and supported by The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo will launch in 2016 on Android and iPhone devices. Pokemon Go sounds like a complicated title to undertake, what with its overlapping business interests, along with its augmented, mobile and GPS pedigree that will look to get people out of their homes trying to track down and catch Pokemon in the real world. And reading the transcript from the Pokemon Go announcement conference, you can tell that this project has been important from the start. Described as being one of the concepts explored for the future of the entire Pokemon brand, Tsunekazu Ishihara, President and CEO, The Pokemon Company revealed that it took two years and a lot of cooperation with Nintendo, who own the Pokemon corporation.

"I have been working on this project for about two years along with Nintendo's Mr. Iwata, and I really hoped we could make the announcement together," Ishihara revealed earlier this month. "when I was working on concepts for the future of Pokémon, a certain individual introduced a game to me that had just come out of beta test. It was called Ingress. "Ingress was very impressive to me and I found myself really getting into the game. I also felt that it shared a common philosophy with Pokémon and that with the developer, Niantic, we could create a new type of Pokémon game."

Furthermore, Niantic's earlier gaming title, Ingress, can really give those fans a clue of what Pokemon Go will feel like. Historical sites, monuments, statues, even local businesses, are transformed into “Portals” from another universe which players battle to control and it seems that the developers are pushing the scope of that idea even further with Pokemon Go. It sounds like Pokemon will not be limited to just special sites but will be found in normal locations people can visit regularly. And while Nintendo have confirmed that this game might stray from the usual conventions in the Pokemon universe, there is also the chance of a crossover between Go and the next main title to appear on a Nintendo platform.

"At the same time, I'm also thinking up ways that this project might connect with the next entry in the main series Pokémon games," Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director, Nintendo explained. "2016 marks the 20th year since Pokémon was born. It's going to be a very meaningful year for me, and I am really excited to be able to participate in this project. I hope everyone will also be excited for Pokémon GO." Pokemon Go has proved such a popular idea among fans that they are already making their plans for how to take on the game when it's released.