Pokemon Go is, without a doubt, Niantic’s most successful and popular game, but many of its ideas and technology were created for Ingress, its other augmented reality, GPS-powered game. In recent weeks, Niantic has been experimenting with social features in Ingress that allow players to connect directly inside of the app, as opposed to coordinating outside of it, and it is ready to bring those features to Pokemon Go.
Exactly what the features borrowed from Ingress will be and how they will be adapted to Pokemon Go is not yet entirely clear, but Niantic says the features will be coming to Pokemon Go sometime in the next few months. We reached out to Niantic for more clarity and it said that Pokemon Go’s features will be different from Ingress’s, but it is working on features that will give trainers tools to connect with their friends in game as well as other Trainers out in the real world, like real-time geo-coordination, as one example. Niantic outlined the new social features for Ingress in a blog earlier this month. These features allow Ingress players to find local communities, craft a Niantic friends list, send direct and group messages, and create local events, all without leaving the Ingress app.
Despite its success and massive player base, Pokemon Go has made little effort to connect players inside of the app outside of limited friends list features, for often understandable security reasons. Adding social features like those added to Ingress has the potential to change and optimistically improve the game. For more on the new features, you can read this Pokemon Go blog post about it.
Along with these new social features being on the way, Mega Energy and Rare Candy XL are currently available as rewards for completing local raid battles and starting on May 23, the shop’s 1 PokéCoin Event Box will no longer include Remote Raid Passes and will instead feature a rotating array of items.
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