Does 'Pokemon GO' have the potential to be a 20-year game franchise?

As of now, “Pokemon GO” is doing pretty well. The game still has millions of concurrent players all over the world since it was launched in July 2016. But does the game have what it takes to beat other mobile games in the future? According to a report by Engadget, John Hanke, the founder, and CEO of Niantic claims that “Pokemon GO” has the potential to be a 20-year game franchise. But to get there, niantic labs must add more features or compatible hardware for the game.

AR Glasses

At the Wall Street Journal's D.Live interview, John Hanke stated that Niantic’s ultimate goal is to develop augmented reality glasses capable of playing “Pokemon GO.” The developer already began experimenting with a variety of hardware platforms.

John Hanke also stated that there is a possibility to launch a new device on the upcoming mixed reality headset of Magic Leap. John Hanke believes that augmented reality is the ultimate escapist entertainment, and developing it is the only way to make the game last.

Gen-3 confirmed

In other “Pokemon GO” news, data miners from Reddit’s "The Silph Road" community found the sound files of the third generation Pokemon on the 0.79.2 APK update. According to a report by PokemonGoHub, Niantic might be in the final stage of the Gen-3 launch. This means that the Halloween event might not be the only thing that players should expect in the next few days.

Loading screen

Data miners also found a loading screen from the latest patch.

The image on the loading screen features Ghost-type Pokemon from the third-generation – Shuppet, Duskull, Dusclops, Sableye, and Banette. The first-generation Pokemon Gengar was also included. Until now Niantic has not announced the official start date of the Halloween event. But players do not need to worry because the annual event will surely come.

What to expect on Halloween event?

Last year’s Halloween event on “Pokemon GO” was a total success. The event increased the spawn rate of Ghost and Dark-type creatures like Ghastly, Haunter, Zubat, and Gengar. The Halloween event also doubled the Candies that can be acquired from any activities such as walking a buddy or transferring a Pokemon to the professor.

Players are expecting a similar setup this year, but this time with the second and third generation creatures. There are a total of 135 Generation 3 Pokemon from the “Pokemon Ruby” and “Pokemon Sapphire.” The developer is expected to add all of them in the game soon. The developer might also do something to increase the catch rate of Legendary Pokemon.