Niantic’s first AR game Ingress is getting a big update in 2018

You likely haven’t heard of the game, but before the phenomenon of Pokémon Go, there was Ingress — Niantic’s first AR mobile title.

While Niantic is also working on a Harry Potter mobile AR game through a partnership with Warner Bros., the studio also recently revealed to The Verge that it’s planning to release a significant update to its first augmented reality title, Ingress.

Ingress Prime is set to launch next year and seems set to be an almost complete overhaul of the original game. The update will alter nearly everything about the long-running title, including graphics, design and narrative, as well as even the underlying technology that powers the app.

Niantic says that, while the update will follow the same story as the original version of Ingress, a new angle of storytelling will offer long-time players a reason to jump back into the title. More interestingly, however, is that Ingress Prime will take advantage of Google’s ARCore and Apple’s ARKit augmented reality mobile development platforms.

Ingress was first released back in 2012 when Niantic was still operating under Google’s leadership as a subsidiary company. Pokémon Go later went on to adapt much of the underlying groundwork that powered Ingress, particular when it came to the title’s in-game real-world locations like PokeStops and Gyms.

It’s unclear when Ingress Prime will be released in 2018.

Source: The Verge