A new Pokémon app, dubbed Pokémon Sleep, is in the pipeline, which will track players’ sleep and use the data for gameplay.
Although specific details have not been confirmed yet, information about a user’s sleep pattern will play an integral part in the newest Pokémon development.
Pokémon Go – an app that enabled users to interact with Pokemon in the real world – proved to be a global phenomenon in 2015. Since then, Nintendo has reaped the benefits of the game’s appeal. Pokémon Go remains one of the world’s most successful smartphone games, with millions of users still playing every month.
Tsunekazu Ishihara, chief executive of the Pokémon Company, recently revealed at a press conference in Tokyo that Pokémon Sleep will be released in 2020. The target audience for the game includes those who have an interest in sleep as well as a passion for leading a healthy lifestyle.
The press conference also covered the franchise’s official expansion into China and the launch of Pokémon-branded dress shirts coming to the West.
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Other Pokémon products, including new games, devices and a cloud service were also announced. Introduced alongside the Pokémon Sleep is a new device called the Pokémon Go Plus+, which is expected to be worn on a wrist strap or lanyard. The device works as a pedometer and game interface, while also monitoring a user’s sleep via the accelerometer. This data is then transferred to a smartphone via bluetooth.
Since its conception in 1996, more than 340 million units of various Pokémon games have been worldwide.