Can you believe that we are approaching very quickly to Pokemon Go being around for a decade? That blows my mind. The app felt like it had just come out, and we were all experiencing the Pokemon craze, roaming outside in search of a Pokemon to capture. However, since that game came out, Scopely has purchased Niantic’s video game business for a whopping $3.5 billion. That’s a lot of money; with that kind of money, some fans are worried that Pokemon Go will soon change, and not for the better.
If you had seen the news that the gaming division of Pokemon Go’s developer was acquired, you might have wondered if the app would start becoming restrictive. Some concerns fans might have felt were coming would include a new means of advertising entering the application or restrictions that would force players to dig into their pockets. One person from Niantic’s team is hoping to put those concerns to rest.
Talking to Polygon, Niantic’s product director for Pokemon Go, Michael Steranka, cleared the air. This is someone who had close ties with the game, spending eight years on the project. Polygon asked directly if fans can start to expect some changes coming to the game that we see in other free-to-play titles, such as more intrusive ads that will interrupt gameplay or cooldown periods that would prevent players from playing unless they spent money.
If there’s one takeaway that I would love for people to have from this conversation, it’s that definitively no, that is not happening in Pokémon Go — not now, not ever. Again, Scopely really recognizes how unique this game is, and they’ve told us themselves that they would be foolish to try to change the recipe of what’s made this such a huge hit and a success. So yeah, absolutely not. We will not be building into our games any type of obtrusive ads or anything like that. I just really want to reiterate Scopely as a company, the way that they operate is they give all of their teams the agency to make the decisions that’s right for their games. And that is not something that we feel would ever be right for Pokémon Go. – Michael Steranka
Fortunately, it looks like that won’t be happening. It’s clear Pokemon Go is a real success for Niantic and now Scopely. So, it would be wise not to change up the formula very much here. That’s a promise developers seem to be keeping, and we’re certainly crossing our fingers that they hold on to that.
In other related news to Pokemon Go, we have a breakdown of the Fuzzy Buddy Research Day right here. You’ll get to see the official schedule and bonuses you can acquire. Meanwhile, in other related news to the Pokemon franchise, the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A will have a slightly stronger rating than previous mainline games. You can read more about the ESRB rating of this game right here.
