Niantic is known for its augmented reality get-out-and-move games likePokemon GOorMonster Hunter Now, the latter of which held its first major event in Shibuya recently.Monster Hunter Now Carnival Shibuyawas just the first stop, however, with Monster Hunter Now Carnival taking place worldwide on November 2 and November 3.
Game Rant spoke to Niantic senior producer Sakae Osumi at the Monster Hunter Now Carnival Shibuya event on the logistics behind these kinds of events and whyMonster Hunter Nowis only just hitting the events scene, among other things.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How Monster Hunter Now’s Carnival Came Together
The Carnivalcame to Shibuyawith widespread acceptance throughout one of the most trendy districts of Tokyo, and that took no small effort on the part of Niantic. The way the Carnival integratedMonster Hunter Nowinto the city itself created something on a grand scale, and early on in the event, that effort seemed to be paying dividends.
Q: The event’s been going on all day. I was kind of curious if anything major has stood out, either on the production side or just from watching the players?
Osumi:I mean, so far so good. It’s a very special and emotional moment to actually see who’s playing. We launched the game a year ago, and we’ve seen the user base growing. A lot of people play our game every day, but today is like a special moment to actually see them in the real world, see their faces. Yeah, that’s a very special, emotional moment for us. We are really happy to be able to see a lot of players having fun.
Q: You mentioned it’s been a year since the launch. Why did it take a year to actually have an event like this?
Osumi:There was a lot of stuff, a lot of things we wanted to build up on the first version of the game welaunched back in September last year. When we launched the game, it was just a beginning, a first step for us to grow. We wanted to make sure we had this strong foundation to be able to accommodate a wide base and cater to hardcore fans. We’ve been, as you may already know, adding seasonal feature updates, new monsters, new weapon types, new equipment, seasonal stuff, introducing Dimensional Link,Elder Dragons, etc. I guess the first year for us was to get to where we wanted to be. Now, I think we are–I wouldn’t say we are 100% there yet, but we’re pretty much in good shape to keep the live ops game sustainable. Based on that kind of stronger foundation compared to last year, I think we were able to host this event on top of regular seasonal updates.
Q: What was it like making this event?
Based on that concept, it was kind of our natural process to plan this event as we grew our service. We wanted to make this event a big one, but also really special. You cannot experience this anywhere else, other than coming here. We wanted to bring a lot of people, fans, and players here, and also to make sure they have this unique experience, an enjoyable experience gathering here and exploring the city of Shibuya. Then, we had to have something to make sure it’s special to this location that we picked, so Nergigante, this is the first opportunity for everyone to engage with Negigante and other, rare species. We also designed the tracking part of the quest by working closely with the Shibuya City Council to make surethat the route is fun to explore, but also kind of new to those who already know this place. It had to be fun for players who have visited here for the first time, but also for those who already know the area. They still have the opportunity to discover new things by exploring requests. Those are the things we spent a lot of effort on when we tried to design this event.
Q: Shibuya is seen as a youthful place where trends start. How did Shibuya’s reputation sort of factor into its election for the event?
Osumi:Shibuya is one of the most popular cities in Japan and is also in Tokyo. We started our global launch announcement here in Shibuya. The first key visual is actually Shibuya, right? It has always been special to the game.
Q: There was a lot of support for the game throughout the city. Everywhere there were players, there were the QR codes. In all of this planning, how does the community factor in?
Osumi:Our event lead and event team work really closely with the Shibuya City Council to make surethe local community is supportiveand we also pick safe zones and safe routes to allow players to explore.
Q: I know the whole team has been really big on feedback so far, so I was curious what was the best feedback you’ve heard so far?
Osumi:I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the hunters earlier today, and she was really excited because she’s from LA. It was on the environment and the hunters around you. Of course, the number is very different. Even in Japan today, it is like a special gathering.
At one point, we encountered 1600 other Hunters in-game thanks to the Carnival event.
It’s amazing, it’s like endless hunting. Let’s get out and hunt together, and it’s endless. It’s very special. Yeah, it’s just so much fun to be able to come out and play with people you know, but also with people around you who you may not know, sharing the same fun moment for sure.
Niantic Leading the Charge on AR Games
It’s safe to say that Niantic’sother major licensed titlePokemon GOwas nothing short of a revolution in the public acceptance of augmented reality gaming technologies, and for many players, it has been the definitive game of its type. But since July 2016, the augmented reality landscape has shifted considerably. Playing no small part in that shift was the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world in the early 2020s.
Q: AR games have come a long way in what feels like a short time. In the AR genre, what’s the biggest change you’ve seen since you’ve been at Niantic?
Osumi:Biggest change? We all remember the COVID outbreak in 2020, 2021. We were basically forced to work remotely. Through that time, our game was not public; we were going through the development process. From a development perspective, it is very different compared to 2019 when we first started this project. We were in the same office, same floor, testing the game together. But after COVID, theway we communicate was forced to be different. We went through that. That was a challenge.
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. So 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.
For example, you may play at home by yourself. You can hunt monsters on the way to your office. After you get to your office, you see your colleagues and coworkers, and you can have a paintball hunting session at lunchtime also. I think we were introducing more ways to explore the world, to get together.
Q: This event is also kind of proof of how Niantic is able to scale these games. When you’re dealing with these huge scales, but then go back to the average day kind of scale, does that cause any interesting challenges in development?
Osumi:Yes, especially for the back-end server. Today is very heavy in the Shibuya district. Our engineers are actually in a room checking the pathways, workload, etc. Yeah, but flexibility is the strength of our team. Even despite this, we have some online events and live ops events each month, and then at those popular events we see more players getting on, playing, engaging, and there’s more server communication. So, yeah, I think what we have built upon through the past year is sort of results in today’s stability. We have the stability to be able to host this evening.
Q: Do you know if they’ve been able to play any today?
Osumi:Unfortunately, those who are monitoring and securing the server today are not able to play, but I’m sure they’ll play tomorrow.
Q: In a couple of weeks, the event will be worldwide, being accessible to more people. What would you say to those players who are waiting for this kind of event?
Osumi:We are committed. We want to bring this event toeveryone out there in the worldwho’s playing, not only in Tokyo, but also in the US, Europe, and all over the world. Let’s see how this goes. I hope this event turns out well, tomorrow’s the second day, and hope that everything goes well. We’ll wrap it up, take the key learnings, and the takeaways, and then we’ll plan for next year. We’ve definitely committed to hosting more events, small to large, in the coming years.
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