As part of the Beyond the Strand event celebrating 10 years of Kojima Productions, the Japanese developer and the original creator of Pokemon Go announced a “new technology partnership” that aims to “redefine immersive entertainment.”
Like with Kojima’s Death Stranding series, much remains shrouded in mystery about this new project.
“For Kojima Productions, it’s a bold expansion into new forms of media beyond traditional gaming. For Niantic Spatial, it underlines the potential of geospatial AI technology to transform how people and machines understand and interact with the physical world,” reads a line from the announcement.
Niantic Spatial is the new name of the Pokemon Go creator, which is now focusing more directly on AI and geospacial technology. The Pokemon Go development team and the game itself, meanwhile, were sold to Saudi Arabia.
Kojima said his games today “exist on screens” but working with Niantic will allow the studio to “unleash those experiences into real-world experiences.”
“I’m excited to collaborate on creating experiences where you can climb real mountains while finding entertainment there, and connecting with real friends. I’m excited that we can create these new experiences together,” Kojima said.
During Beyond the Strand, Kojima said (via VGC) that this new experience will be “like the real Death Stranding, in the real world, where you can connect with people or connect with the actual environment there in your city.”
Niantic boss John Hanke, meanwhile, said the company is now working on a “living model of the world that people and machines can talk to.” This could allow for a “new canvas for real-world storytelling and interaction,” Hanke said.
To promote whatever this new experience is, Kojima Productions commissioned a live-action video called “A New Dawn” that stars actor Zane Haney and was written and directed by Ei Uehara and Corey Finn.
Also during the Beyond the Strand event, Kojima Productions released new teasers for the Xbox-published game OD and the Sony-published game Physint. Kojima also announced a credit card.
