pokemon go creator Niantic has created a social app for its games – and it’s coming out very soon. The developer says the app, called Campfire, will be rolled out worldwide in the coming days. Campfire was originally announced in May and is in a testing phase with Enter players from the past few months. The first rollout will be available to “select groups of” pokemon go players throughout the summer,” the developer said.
At the heart of Campfire is a map with information about nearby in-game events and activities, theoretically making it easier to find people to play with or arrange meetings with friends. It includes a group and private messaging tool for your in-game friends; in pokemon goFor example, you can DM a raid location to a buddy to make it easier to get together. You can also do things like add a “flare” to a location to encourage nearby players to stop by if something interesting happens. Check out the screenshots below for a better idea of how the app works:
The idea of a Niantic-centric social network may seem redundant with the plethora of messaging apps already out there, but it makes some sense given the number of games the company is working on. In addition to pokemon go and EnterNiantic also has Pikmin Bloom in the wild along with in development games like virtual pet sim peridot and the just announced basketball game NBA All World†
That said, the news comes just a day after the company canceled several projects — including the previously announced one Transformers: Heavy Metal — while more than 80 staff were also made redundant. This comes after high-profile projects such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Catan: World Explorers were shut down after less-than-stellar launches.
