It was expected that ‘Pokemon’, which was explosively popular as an AR (augmented reality) game, would be released as a metaverse version.
The Pokémon Company International recently started recruiting experts in the fields of blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and metaverse through job advertisements, reported by Video Game Chronicle and Cryptoslate on the 13th (local time).
The Pokémon Company was founded in 1998 by Nintendo along with game developer Game Freak and licensing company Creatures.
According to the report, the person being hired is in charge of advising the management on strategy, leading investment and project progress, and identifying market trends with the title of ‘cooperative development manager’.
In particular, the Pokemon Company stated that as a condition for application, ‘you must have deep knowledge and understanding of blockchain technology, NFT, and Web3, including the metaverse’.
It also conditioned on being deeply connected to Web3 and the metaverse’s network of investors and businesses, as well as the ability to connect Pokemon’s existing assets with potential partners or the relevance of the technology.
Video Game Chronicle and others said that this announcement could not confirm the release of a new Pokemon game using NFT or blockchain technology, but at least it is certain that the company is investigating related technologies.
Nintendo gained sensational popularity with the AR game ‘Pokemon Go’ developed by Niantic in 2016, but at the time of the metaverse boom in 2021, it kept silent about related game development.
However, through a conference call in 2022, “We are interested in the metaverse and feel the possibility. But it’s not clear what we can do, and it’s hard to say right away.”
Reporter Lim Dae-jun [email protected]