Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

‘Pokémon Go’ may get its own social network

By

Pokémon Go
Evertoon
Niantic Labs, maker of the wildly popular Pokémon Go and the augmented-reality adventure Ingress, has acquired social media startup Evertoon to expand its reach across mobile platforms. Rather than an acquisition, it looks like an acqu-hire: Niantic is hiring all five Evertoon employees for their social media expertise and engineering know-how, rather than a desire to take over the Evertoon property itself.

Their experience in adding social media to digital products was the reason for the hire, Niantic founder John Hanke said in a blog post. “Today I am excited to announce that we have acquired the Evertoon team, who bring with them a wealth of talent and experience in mobile products, tools for creativity, and community building.”

Recommended Videos

Evertoon released a mobile app that allowed users to create avatars based on their own likeness, which they could then manipulate to perform a variety of actions and create miniature movies or music videos. The company was founded in 2014 by Niane Wang, a Google veteran who co-founded Google Desktop.

“Our mission is to use animation to enable video creation for anyone with stories to tell, regardless of their looks, race, or age,” Evertoon said in a statement. “It has been wonderful seeing this come to fruition in our diverse community.”

The company will be shutting down its online support on November 30, although you can still continue to create animations in offline mode on your phone. “As a thank-you, we recently released 60 new animations and 13 clothing items. We hope you enjoy using these in your future videos,” the company said. The latest version of the iOS Evertoon app is now available in the App Store.

The Evertoon team will get to work adding a social platform to Pokémon Go and other upcoming Niantic games.

Although Pokémon Go is no longer the global phenomenon it once was, it still has a huge and loyal user base and generates a ton of money. Augmented reality certainly has a big future in gaming, as more than two million trainers participated in a recent “Pikachu Outbreak” event in Japan. With the release of third-generation monsters and ongoing events, this move could help to reinvigorate interest in the franchise — which remains one of the best augmented reality apps around.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Austin
Mark Austin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…
Pokémon Go developer’s next Nintendo AR game is Pikmin Bloom
Pikmin grow flowers as they walk in a park.

Niantic, the developer of the well-known Pokémon Go, has announced Pikmin Bloom, its latest AR game. The game was teased earlier this year, but there have been few details up to this point. The game will be available on mobile devices in Australia and Singapore starting Tuesday, then on phones worldwide in the coming days. Like Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom will be free to download, but there are few similarities between the two titles.

Pikmin Bloom - Extended Announcement Trailer + Miyamoto (Nintendo Mobile)

Read more
Pokémon No Day: Why fans are boycotting Pokémon Go today
how to get coins in pokemon go style

Pokémon Go fans are boycotting the popular mobile video game today with a protest dubbed Pokémon No Day. The boycott, which has gained traction on Twitter, is intended to speak out against Niantic rolling back the game's COVID-19 friendly updates.

As the world fell into a lockdown in 2020, Pokémon Go developer Niantic had to act fast. Pokémon Go used to require that players go outside and walk around to catch some Pokémon. However, with COVID-19 spreading, doing so became dangerous. To keep players playing, Niantic opted to make it possible to play Pokemon Go from home. However, the developer is now rolling back those changes, even as a new Delta variant of the virus spreads. Understandably, fans are not happy and are taking today to boycott the game.

Read more
Pokémon Go gets a special New Pokémon Snap event featuring a shiny Smeargle
Pokemon Go

Pokémon Go is getting a special event to celebrate the release of New Pokémon Snap. Players will be able to grab some photography-themed goodies and have a chance to catch a shiny Smeargle.

New Pokémon Snap, a sequel to a 1999 Nintendo 64 photography game, comes to Nintendo Switch at the end of the month. Pokémon Go's special event lines up with the game's release window. It'll begin one day before the Switch game launches on Thursday, April 29, and end on Sunday, May 2.

Read more