Established in 2010, mobile game developer Niantic is best known for releasing the outrageously popularPokemon GOin 2015. In addition, the studioannounced an upcoming AR game calledPeridotin April, with a full release coming later this year. However, the Android and iOS developer isn’t content with one new game, bringing its preferred flavor of augmented reality to the world of professional sports.
Niantic unveiled the upcomingNBA All-Worldwith a new blog post and teaser trailer. The officially licensed game doesn’t have a specific release date yet, but Niantic’s reportedly been developing it secretly for some time already. Interested sports fans can also pre-register onNBA All-World’s official website.
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The thirty-second-long teaser doesn’t offer much insight into how the game functions, just showing a few logos and an animation of the world turning into a giant basketball. However, developers shared a few screenshots showing a gamereminiscent ofPokemon GO. Senior Producer Marcus Matthews said thatNBA All-World“blends the real world with 1-on-1 basketball action, collecting, fashion and more.” Players pick up upgrades and cosmetics at the game’s equivalent ofPokemon GO’s PokéStops. These locations will include real-world basketball courts and sporting goods stores. Meanwhile, players will go head-to-head against NBA stars like Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum inNBA All-World’s equivalent of Gym Battles.
Niantic is developing the new game with assistance from HypGames, an Orlando-based studio that specializes inAndroid and iOS sports games. Founded by formerOutlaw Sportsdevelopers, the team brings decades of development experience to the table. Matthews, meanwhile, produced the very firstNBA 2Kgame for Sega in 1999. He hopes to leverage his and HypGames' decades of experience to create a unique game that appeals to both casual and hardcore basketball fans.
While Niantic hasn’t announced a specific release date, it reportedly hopes to launch the game alongside the 2022-2023 basketball season. The upcoming season starts October 18th, so basketball fans can likely expectNBA All-Worldto launch somewhere around that time. Matthews also announced that Niantic intends to soft-launchNBA All-Worldin select regions ahead of the full release. Fans can find out if they are qualified to be beta-testers by signing up on the game’s website.
As others have noted, Niantic’s new game is far from the typical basketball sim.The popularNBA 2Kfranchiseusually prides itself on having a high level of realism and attention to detail. TheNBA 2K Playgroundsspinoff series is more arcadey but still within the broad definition of a conventional sports game.NBA All-Worldmay have the potential to shake up what a mainstream sports game is, though mirroring the success ofPokemon GOmay be a tall order.
NBA All-Worldis in development for Android and iOS.
