(San Francisco) The Japanese giant Nintendo and Niantic, publisher of the famous “Pokémon Go”, launched Tuesday a new mobile game in augmented reality with a similar concept, called “Pikmin Bloom”.
It will be based on the world of Pikmin creatures, half animal and half plant, invented twenty years ago by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, and is a rare step for the company, unaccustomed to letting its characters s’ venture out of traditional consoles.
“This reflects a strong and ongoing partnership with Nintendo,” said John Hanke, founding president of Niantic, revealing a first look at the game.
Niantic and Nintendo have collaborated on the free-to-play smartphone game “Pokémon Go,” which has generated more than $ 5 billion in revenue from in-app purchases, according to data analytics company SensorTower.
Released in 2016, it remains today “central to the global mobile video game market” thanks to “key updates” and “the constant addition of new Pokémon to collect,” according to SensorTower.
Both companies are clearly looking to replicate this success with “Pikmin Bloom,” in which the player has to walk to grow small, animated plant-like figures.
To find seeds or interact with the Pikmin, the game uses smart phone cameras and augmented reality features.
Augmented reality allows images and animations to be superimposed on the screen of a smartphone on the real environment of the player, filmed live by the rear camera of the device.
“’Pikmin Bloom’ is designed to make your time outdoors, for example your daily walk, more fun and enjoyable,” said John Hanke.
“Personally, my daily walk has kept me active and sane through the madness I’ve been through for a year and a half,” he added.
The free game “Pikmin Bloom” has launched in the App Store and Google Play stores in Australia and Singapore, and will soon be available in other countries.
Nintendo has launched in recent years a dozen mobile titles such as “Super Mario Run” (2016) or “Mario Kart Tour” (2019).