CD Projekt Red and Niantic, Pokémon GO’s creator, will collaborate on a yet unannounced project, according to the former’s recent earnings call.
CD Projekt Red Teams Up with Scopley, Niantic’s owners
When one hears of CD Projekt Red, their first thoughts would likely be Cyberpunk 2077 or The Witcher series. Pokémon is probably one of the last things someone would expect that the Polish developer would be involved with. However, it seems that CD Projekt has recently teamed up with Scopley, which recently bought Niantic, the studio behind Pokémon Go. The partnership was revealed during CD Projekt’s earnings call on Tuesday, but no details were provided, nor was the specific IP for the game disclosed.
While CD Projekt is currently working on The Witcher 4, with over 400 of its overall staff assigned to its development, Niantic is still maintaining Pokémon GO, which now boasts over 30 million monthly active users. Niantic was also recently bought by Scopely, the mobile giant behind Monopoly Go, with estimates that the deal cost the latter company over $3.5 billion.
All of this begs the question of what CD Projekt Red and Niantic will work on.
What Could the Collab Be About?
Considering The Witcher 4 is currently in production, it’s possible that the two companies would be working on a Witcher collab. A mobile version of the card game Gwent already exists, so it’s possible that whatever Scopely is developing could be something different.
One possibility is that CD Projekt Red and Niantic will take They could easily adapt the Pokémon GO format, allowing players to take on the role of a Witcher hunting monsters, but it might be a tough sell for players to walk around completing Witcher missions. Pokémon GO often appeals to a younger demographic that has the time to walk around the city to find points of interest.
However, Scopley, Niantic’s new owner, is famous for another game with “GO” in its name – the mobile game Monopoly GO. Given that the physical board game of Monopoly already has various themed editions, from Harry Potter to Star Wars, it’s possible that Monopoly Go could also feature themed versions inspired by Witcher or Cyberpunk.
Speaking of Cyberpunk, it’s possible the two companies might co-develop an AR version of the game that could be played on people’s phones. They could lean into the hacking aspect of the sci-fi RPG, with players having to walk around and try to hack specific areas.
Whatever the case, it’s still unknown what CD Projekt Red and Niantic will be working on or when we’ll learn about it. Considering both companies are busy with other projects, what comes out of this collaboration might as well be something small after all. For now, fans will just have to wait for further announcements.
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