Will Niantic add PvP battles to Pokemon Go?

“..encourage Trainers by bringing features around a friend system”. Does PvP come next?

Niantic has recently released a friend system through Pokemon Go in which the trainers can add friends, send gifts and trade Pokemon with each other. This family of features was developed in order to “encourage Trainers to play & connect meaningfully in-game” as the Game Director of Niantic, Mr Tatsuo Nomura said.

“Our goal when exploring these features is to encourage Trainers to play & connect meaningfully in-game. With trading, I hope that Trainers who live in different parts of the world will be encouraged to meet & trade Pokémon.” —Tatsuo Nomura, Game Director https://t.co/zJT54TTAjT pic.twitter.com/931BcaAxBw

— Niantic (@NianticLabs) June 21, 2018

The developers have spoken!

In a previous post on the official Pokemon Go website, Niantic Developers explain the Inside Philosophy of Friends and Trading. Niantic Developers mentioned that “there are still more collaborative and social features they would love to bring to the game”. They believe that there can be even more ways to “bring special interactions into the game that encourage meaningful in-person interactions with friends and loved ones”. By saying “Special Interactions” maybe they are referring to the coveted PvP battling system. Double battles in cooperation with other friends could also be a possible addition, if we consider that Niantic wants to include more collaborative and social in-game features for the friend system.

An excellent foundation for new ideas

Definitely, we can’t ignore the fact that they described the Friend System as “a robust and an excellent foundation for building on these ideas”. Ideas like a PvP System is not that difficult now, when the hard work is already done. Code-wise, they already developed the majority of the features needed for a PvP System, in the friend and trading system. For example, if we assume that PvP can be done with a nearby Trainer, well.. this feature was already developed in code! It’s already one of the restrictions of the trading system which the Trainers have to be near each other in order to complete a successful trade. Regional and Global challenges or leaderboards could also be a great addition for this PvP System.

“Exploring is always more fun when you have someone to come along for the ride, and we hope that these features only strengthen that sentiment.” ~ Niantic Developers

Bring a PvP System, now

Let’s be honest. We all want a PvP System in Pokemon Go. Pokemon are not only about friendship values and collaboration. Being a Pokemon Master is also about challenging others and becoming the best of all. I really can’t wait for this feature to roll out. I hope they will incorporate it in the coming months.