Niantic has encouraged the world to roam the streets as Pokémon trainers and wizards… next up? Time to transform and roll out.
80’s mega toy Transformers is the latest IP to partner with Niantic to build a map-heavy, geolocation-centric game. Details are still a bit light, but here’s just about everything we know:- It’ll be called Transformers: Heavy Metal. They’ve put up a pre-registration page here.
- It’s being built in collaboration with Hasbro, TOMY, and Seattle game team Very Very Spaceship.
- Players will be a part of the “Guardian Network,” according to the announcement, “a group of humans who have banded together with the Autobots in a war against the Decepticons.”
- It’s built on Niantic’s Lightship platform, the same underlying engine that powers Pokémon GO, Harry Potter Wizards Unite, and the still in-development Catan: World Explorers.
- When’s it arriving? Nothing too specific yet, but it’ll launch in “select markets” soon, and then globally “later this year”. This staged rollout tends to be Niantic’s approach; Pokémon GO landed first in Japan, while Catan was quietly rolled out in New Zealand last year.