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Pokémon Go makers rely on their own characters
Pokémon Go caused a stir when it was launched in 2016 with the fact that the game characters appeared on the smartphone screen in the real environment. photo
© Patrick Seeger/dpa
Pokémon Go gives developer company Niantic weight in the gaming industry. Seven years later, Niantic wants to move up to the next league with its own game characters.
The makers of the smartphone game Pokémon Go are trying their luck with game characters they have developed themselves. The game Peridot, in which users care for and raise a fantasy creature as a virtual pet, has been widely available in Germany and other countries since Tuesday.
The app brings back memories of the once popular Tamagotchis – however, if not cared for, peridots will only grow more slowly instead of dying.
Pokémon Go caused a stir when it was launched in 2016 with the fact that the game characters appeared on the smartphone screen in the real environment. With Peridot, the development company Niantic takes the idea to the extreme: the characters now interact with their environment. They disappear behind objects, sniff flowers, cautiously approach pets, play in the mud. When users walk their peridots, they walk around them and explore the environment.
Each peridot is unique
The peridots develop in the game from a cute baby with huge eyes to an adult creature. For this you have to feed them and play with them as well as fulfill their wishes. Each peridot is unique. You can mate two adult peridots – and get a baby with characteristics of its parents. Niantic is also building a store selling merchandise related to the game.
The company introduced the game for the first time a good year ago, but so far it has only been available to selected users in a few countries as a test. During this time, among other things, the possibility of throwing balls to the peridots and teaching them tricks such as lifting their paws was added, said the responsible Niantic manager Ziah Fogel.
“Like a dog playground, but with peridots”
Peridot was originally developed with a focus on so-called AR glasses, in which virtual objects are displayed directly in the user’s field of vision, Fogel said. According to experts, however, the technology behind the glasses is still years away. However, Niantic is already thinking about suitable game mechanics. Even better object recognition will be needed in the glasses so that the software can recognize gestures and, for example, display a virtual tennis ball in the user’s hand.
A technically complex goal for the future is that users can also see the peridots of other players in the area: “Like a dog playground, but with peridots.” A hindrance for it are still too slow reaction times in portable radio nets.
With Peridot, Niantic is trying to get into the league of game companies that have been able to establish their own characters. Pokémon Go is currently still the mainstay of the business: the initial hype may be over now, but there is still a hard core of active players, some of whom also spend money in the app.