Niantic’s mobile hit Pokémon GO is nearing its 10th anniversary, and in case you were wondering, it probably won’t be getting a sequel… at least any time soon.
Scopely’s president of games Ed Wu (and former SVP of Pokémon GO at Niantic) recently spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about the title’s future and said a sequel would not be the “correct thing” to do right now, and would likely divide its massive community.
Here’s exactly what he had to say:
“I think that doing a sequel within a franchise is pretty clearly not the correct thing we do.
“There’s such a big community because of the way that our games can be a part of folks’s lives wherever they go, however they explore the world. Creating a sequel that divides the community doesn’t make as much sense. If and when we do something new, it will really have to be from a different angle, but still with this notion of inspiring people to explore the world together”
It’s not the first time a large and extremely popular game has suggested it’s not interested in a sequel. For example, Minecraft decided to build on its original foundations and community, rather than pump out a sequel.
As for Pokémon GO in its current state, the title has now been downloaded more than 500 million times, and is estimated to have generated over 8.8 billion in revenue. Niantic has also expanded over time with other IP including Monster Hunter, although it has experienced some bumps along the way.
