Every success comes with criticism, and Pokémon GO is no exception. The latest decisions made by Niantic have provoked the rejection of millions of players, and the company is expected to respond quickly to those complaints. However, its CEO John Hanke was talking about the future of Pokémon GO, and we must recognize that he threw some crazy ideas on the table, including integrated contact lenses that would essentially replace the smartphone to play.
Pokémon GO is experiencing what we could call “growing pains”. Its recent arrival in Latin America, a strategic decision undoubtedly related to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, does not hide the fact that there are many angry players at this moment. Niantic's initial radio silence only made things worse, but now we have a bit of official information. There is a reason behind the players' fury, and it is the general block on all Pokémon tracking applications and platforms. We all knew that was going to happen sooner or later, though Niantic explains that after the block it managed to free up more than 50 percent of resources on its servers, and this supposedly allowed the launch in Latin America. At the same time, Pokémon GO's Twitter profile confirmed that the high escape rate of some Pokémon and the lack of knowledge of experience bonuses on captures is a bug that will be corrected in the next update.
But what brings us here are the latest words from Niantic's CEO, John Hanke, who basically decided to play futurist at the GamesBeat conference. What did he share there? Some of his ideas are reasonable from a commercial point of view, such as organizing public events related to Pokémon GO, agreements with large chains and shopping centers, community service programs (I guess it will be something in the line of “let's help clean up this park and catch a Mew in the process”), and things like that. However, his most extreme idea could revolutionize the way Pokémon GO is played and pulverize several rules in the world of augmented reality: integrated contact lenses, so that instead of using the smartphone to find Pokémon, you can see them directly.
Of course, Hanke gave no technical details, but the statement is a personal wish that he hopes to see become reality within several years. Another much more “closer” possibility in time is to create bridges between Pokémon GO and wearable devices, such as smartwatches or glasses (can you imagine what Google Glass would be today with Pokémon GO?). Until that happens, Niantic has its hands full. Pokémon GO is about to reach its limit, and it needs to receive new features as soon as possible. What kind of features? Let's say Pokémon trading, PvP battles, step tracking to avoid walking in circles, introduction of legendary Pokémon, expansion of the Pokémon list (adding the ones from the Johto region, maybe?), and a much more strategic battle mode... like in the Game Boy games.
