The Pokémon Company Go CEO, Tsunekazu Ishihara, just announced recently that they are going to integrate players’ sleep habits into the gameplay turning “sleep into entertainment.” He added that together with Select Button company developers they are working on a new game – Pokémon Sleep – to be launched sometimes in 2020.
Niantic CEO, John Hanke had this to say at the press conference:
“Niantic pioneered a new kind of gaming by turning the whole world into a gameboard, where we can all play and explore. By creating a new way to see the world and an incentive to go outside and exercise, we hoped to encourage a healthy lifestyle and to make a positive impact on our players and on the world. We’re delighted to be working with The Pokémon Company on their efforts to encourage another part of a healthy lifestyle: getting a good night’s rest.
At Niantic, we love exploring the world on foot. And that can’t happen unless we have the energy to embark on these adventures. We’re excited to find ways to reward good sleep habits in Pokémon GO as part of a healthy lifestyle. You’ll be hearing more from us on this in the future.”
For this the company is going to make a similar device with Pokémon GO+ which was allowing you to play the game (spinning stop and catching Pokémon) without looking at the screen. The new gadget will be called Pokémon GO+Plus (sic!) and will have a built-in accelerometer that will track your sleep habits and send them back to your phone via Bluetooth.
In order to prepare gamers for what is there to come, currently, there is a new event in Pokémon Go in which trainers are finding Snorlax snoozing in the wild. The Snorlax caught will also know an exclusive move called Yawn. The in-game event will last until June 3, 2019 1 p.m. (GMT-7) so wake up and Go!
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.