Pokémon Go: Everything you need to know to catch ’em all – The Verge

Pokémon Go’s live events drove nearly $250 million in tourism revenue last year

2020-01-22T11:00:00-05:00

Niantic Labs says its live events for augmented reality hit Pokémon Go contributed $247 million in tourism revenue last year across three cities. The announcement on Wednesday was paired with the new schedule for 2020 events across Pokémon Go, Ingress Prime, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

"Over the last 7 years, live, real-world events have been central to Niantic's goal in leveraging technology to create interactive experiences that foster exploration and discovery, active and healthy lifestyles and lasting friendships," Michael Steranka, Niantic's senior manager for live events, said in a statement. "Niantic's large-scale real-world eve …

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Pokémon Go is getting a live AR multiplayer feature called Buddy Adventure

2019-11-06T10:00:00-05:00

Niantic Labs is bringing some of its next-generation augmented reality tech out of the experimental phase. The company today announced that a live multiplayer feature for Pokémon Go called Buddy Adventure will make its way to the mobile AR game sometime in the next few months.

The feature is based on Niantic's Codename: Neon multiplayer AR technology, which it first showed off last year. It effectively allows two separate devices to create interactive AR objects within the same frame so that two players of a game like Pokémon Go can each see the same AR objects when viewing the world through their iOS or Android camera lens.

With Buddy Adv …

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Two years later, Pokémon Go finally has some competition

2018-07-12T10:48:35-04:00

The summer of 2016 was filled with sunshine and pokéballs. Two years ago, Niantic unleashed Pokémon Go on the world, and parks and city streets were filled with people who were trying to catch a Squirtle or Pikachu. And while the fervor has died down quite a bit, the game is still going strong. A steady stream of updates have introduced new monsters, features like co-operative boss battles and real-time weather effects, and more recently, Niantic added the long-anticipated option to trade pokémon.

According to analyst firm Superdata Research, these changes are working. The company says that in May, Pokémon Go's "player base increased to the …

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Pokémon Go trading and friends lists are coming soon

2018-06-18T09:00:03-04:00

Two years later, Pokémon Go is finally getting trading.

Today, developer Niantic announced that the feature will be coming to the game soon as part of Pokémon Go's big summer update, which will also add a new friend feature to the augmented reality mobile hit. Trading has been a long-promised feature for the game, one that Niantic insisted was coming since Pokémon Go debuted back in 2016. "We wanted to make sure we got this right," Kirsten Koa, a Niantic software engineer who served as technical lead on the feature, explains. "I hope we came up with something that's natural and enjoyable."

"We wanted to make sure we got this right."

The key …

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Mewtwo is coming to Pokémon Go soon in new invite-only raids

2017-08-14T09:24:41-04:00

At the Pokémon Go Stadium show in Yokohama, attending players were able to capture the newly available pokémon: legendary Mewtwo. Soon, fellow trainers around the world will have a chance as well. Developer Niantic said that Mewtwo will be available to players worldwide "in the coming weeks" as part of a new, invite-only multiplayer feature called "exclusive raid battles."

Cooperative raid battles were added to the game as part of Pokémon Go's big summer update, and the exclusive versions work in largely the same way. You'll still be teaming up with fellow trainers to take down powerful pokémon that are only available for a limited time. Th …

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I just caught Mewtwo at Japan’s Pokémon Go Stadium

2017-08-14T07:12:05-04:00

When Pokémon Go was first announced nearly two years ago, Niantic and Nintendo sold players on the concept with a trailer depicting trainers taking on Mewtwo in Times Square. Tonight in Yokohama, Japan, Pokémon Go more or less delivered on that promise as thousands of players worked together to catch the notorious legendary pokémon in a baseball stadium.

Pokémon Go events got off to an inglorious start last month with a disastrous gathering in Chicago that saw battles scuppered by spotty cell service. It was enough for Niantic to delay some of its scheduled European meetings altogether. But the Pokémon Go Stadium show went pretty much to pl …

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Pokémon Go will host real-life events to celebrate its anniversary

2017-06-08T09:18:07-04:00

It's a little hard to believe, but Pokémon Go has been out for almost a full year. To celebrate, Niantic Labs announced that it's planning a number of in-game and in-person events.

The first big event, called the Solstice Event, will take place in the game. This will happen on June 13th, and it'll include Fire-type and Ice-type pokémon, XP bonuses, and discounted Lucky Eggs. The team also announced that it'll soon release a new update that focuses on collaborative gameplay which hints at a "new way" to play the game, but will also temporarily close down in-game gyms for a short while.

Diehard players can also take part in the first in-pers …

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The Pokémon Go Plus wearable will launch next week

2016-09-08T02:08:08-04:00

The Pokémon Go Plus wearable will be released on September 16th, developer Niantic Labs has announced, almost two months after its planned launch date. The $35 device - a wrist-mounted BlueTooth sensor that vibrates when pokémon and pokéstops are near - was originally set for launch at the end of July, but was pushed back until September without explanation. Nintendo apologized to customers who preordered the Pokémon Go Plus after the release delay was initially announced, promising them a discount on future purchases. It's an approach that seems to have worked - the device remains sold out at both Amazon and GameStop.

Pokémon Go developer …

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This woman is leaving adorable crocheted pokémon at pokéstops

2016-08-18T15:24:05-04:00

We're a couple weeks into a post-Pokémon Go world, and I have to admit that I'm not opening the app as much as I used to. I'd be back on board if I lived in Lewisville, Texas though, if only for a shot at finding a crocheted Bellsprout at a pokéstop.

Nichole Dunigan is the artist behind these handmade cuties, and she's been hiding them in various pokéstops and gyms around her neighborhood for local kids to find.

#koffing #crochetgo #pokemongo

Nichole(@knottynichole)님이 게시한 사진님, 2016 8월 16 오후 7:37 PDT

Tangela #crochetgo

Nichole(@knottynichole)님이 게시한 사진님, 2016 8월 11 오전 9:47 PDT

Snorlax is going to be hiding today #crochetgo #snorl …

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Niantic is now permanently banning Pokémon Go cheaters

2016-08-12T18:18:18-04:00

Game maker Niantic, the developer behind mobile sensation Pokémon Go, is now issuing permanent bans to players who violate its terms of service. Though TOS violations vary, these bans appear to be directed at cheaters who rely on GPS spoofing, bots, and other software techniques that allow Pokémon Go to be played beyond the realm of Niantic's design parameters. For instance, GPS spoofing lets you trick a smartphone into thinking you're located in a different country, allowing you to catch pokémon that may be more easily located in that area or restricted to certain regions. Bots, on the other hand, let you automate portions of the game.

In …

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