NBA All World Is Niantic’s Next Pokemon Go-Style AR Game 

Niantic creates a very specific type of game that combines real-world exploration with GPS-based augmented reality mechanics. It has original games like Ingress and the upcoming Peridot, but its biggest success has been the famous Pokemon property.  Even a game based on transformers was announced last year.  Since Ingress, all of Niantic’s games have been based on some sort of fictional world, but his next partnership and game is borrowed from reality. NBA All World is a Pokemon Go style game based on the NBA. To quote Marcus Matthews, Niantic’s senior producer at All World, the game is “an NBA lifestyle meeting with the real world metaverse”, though Niantic has apparently developed its own definition of the term “metaverse”.

All World is functionally similar to other Niantic augmented reality games, in which players explore the real world to collect items, be the best player on their local court, and play against NBA players. It will feature authentic NBA music, merchandise and footwear. For example, Matthews said that the nearest mini market would be the place you should visit to build up stamina for your player, and the nearest sporting goods store would be the place to buy the latest branded shoes to customize your team.

The main mode in the game is a one-on-one game against real players. In the gameplay shown, one player dribbles before jumping to shoot and a counter appears on the screen.  How much control you have over the player while dribbling and moving is not yet clear, but all control is by touch and swipe – the game will not use a virtual D-pad. “We want it to be a fast and accessible gameplay system,” Matthews says.