Niantic radically changed the conversation around augmented reality withPokemon GOin 2016, and then, it followed up years later with another popular IP. The company launched a collaboration with Capcom onMonster Hunter Nowin 2023, and this month that game celebrated the first Monster Hunter Now Carnival in Shibuya. This debut event is simply the herald ofthe worldwide Monster Hunter Now Carnival eventtaking place on November 2 and 3.
Over the past eight years, Niantic has been the face of augmented reality for many gamers withPokemon GOandMonster Hunter Now. In all these years, AR gaming has grown considerably, and Game Rant recently spoke with Niantic senior producer Sakae Osumi about the company’s philosophies and the role the COVID-19 pandemic had in formingMonster Hunter Now.
Where It Was
Nothing rocked the augmented worlds of Niantic quite the way the COVID-19 pandemic did. Pandemic mitigation features and an unfortunate glut of free time as lives were upended led to several then-new features inPokemon GO, butMonster Hunter Nowwas only in development. The fact that Niantic was developing a game meant to get people out playing together during a time when people could not go out or play together was understandably a challenge. A simple example of this is the fact that no one could playtest the game together in the office.
This challenge went directly against thedesign of AR games. Osumi explained to Game Rant how the core values of Niantic focused on getting out into the world for events like theMonster Hunter NowCarnival Shibuya, and how this game exemplifies Niantic’s ideals.
Ever since we started this project, our ultimate goal was to bring people outside, get together, hunt together, explore the field outside, explore different monster habitats, ecosystems, and challenges, and sharing that moment of achievement. We wanted to see that happening in this real world environment ever since we started the project.
Obviously, COVID prevented that from happening inPokemon GO, but since theMonster Hunter Nowteam switched to remote work, a lot of what had been tried and true to that point no longer worked. The game started its development prior to the pandemic, which allowed developers to test things together as it was intended to be played. Being unable to do that and being forced to switch to different means of communication was a hurdle to overcome.
Where It Is
However, from that challenge inspiration grew, with Osumi explaining,
We have been kind of true to our concept and the theme we established at the very beginning of the project–to get out and hang together in the real world, face to face, working together. During COVID, we weren’t able to do that that much, but after things calmed down, we were back on track from a development perspective, working together, testing together, and testing the game. I think our core value hasn’t really changed. I think we have been able to explore more different ways to make real world collaboration happen in different ways.
Where It Will Go
Players can see these different ways to make “real-world collaboration” work withMonster Hunter Nowfeatures, but now, Niantic aims to push that core theme forward. The Shibuya event was a huge success and saw players all over the ward come together and do exactly what Niantic hopes to see; communities worldwide will be able to do so as well soon.
From there, Osumi promised that Niantic is dedicated to moreMonster Hunter Noweventsand asked fans to look forward to what comes in 2025. Niantic has had a roller coaster ride as the face of the AR space, with the pandemic representing some of the company’s highest highs and lowest lows. ForMonster Hunter Now, it was an important lesson during the game’s development overall overall, though.
