Pokemon GO developer Niantic has confirmed two much-awaited features of the mobile augmented reality game. The two features that will soon be coming via an update are monster trading and PvP battles.
Pokemon GO gets monster trading and PvP battle features. Niantic CEO John Hanke said that one of the two new features would've come earlier if not for the server issues the game initially had. He added that the new features are "going to be done soon."
"It is what it is. I'll take the massive wave of hysteria we enjoyed, and just deal with the fact that it's caused us to take a bit longer to get the rest of the features up. We're really happy to make our users happy," Hanke said during an interview with Vice's Waypoint.
Game publisher The Pokemon Company said that some features were intentionally put on hold to make the game as approachable as possible to new users. Since its launch, only two major features were released via an update namely the Buddy Pokemon and Nearby features.
Hanke had also mentioned in the interview that Pokemon GO had made enough of a profit in the previous year to support Niantic indefinitely. There are no details as to how much money the game made. However, there are speculations that say that the game made at least US$600 million in the first three months on microtransactions or in-game purchases alone. This is quite impressively high for a free-to-play game.
Apart from these two new features, Hanke has confirmed plans for Niantic to host real-world events that tie in with the game. This will allow players to convene and catch rare Pokemon such as Mewtwo. The Niantic CEO did not reveal any timeline as to when this would be made possible.
A recently released update for the game has brought in a second generation of Pokemon for players to catch. The second generation consists of Scizor, Politoed, and Slowking to name a few.
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